Beep. Beep. Beep.

You stir beneath stiff, scratchy sheets. Your eyes slowly flutter open and you squint at the bright fluorescent light above your head. The smell of cleaning solution reaches your nose and you realize that you are lying in the hospital wing. Instead of being forced to take a bed with a mere curtain around it, you had been treated to a private room given to superior officers. The sterile room was filled with equipment, half of which you couldn't even recognize.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

That was the sound of the heart monitor attached to your finger. You move and wince at the small sting in your left wrist as the needle from the IV shifts against your skin. The black room was scrupulously spotless and completely unoccupied except for you of course. It was well-equipped and larger than any hospital room you had seen before. As you slowly sit up, you notice thick white bandages wrapped tightly around your torso. Your back felt numb and you realized they had slathered it in an agent to stop the pain from the welts. How long had you even been asleep for?

"I just want to see her." A muffled voice behind the heavy blaster doors catches your attention.

"Sir, she could still be asleep. She needs-"

"I don't care!" The voice says angrily. "Let me through immediately."

A pause. The door slides open the next second and your eyes widen as Kylo steps into the room. His eyes lock with yours and he starts towards you. You couldn't help yourself. You break down and begin to sob as he storms to your bedside. The past week had worn you down and torn you apart more than you thought. All of the pent-up emotions were now breaking free at the sight of the man you had been desperate for.

"I thought you wouldn't be able to find me," you sob, clinging tightly to the front of his robes. "I would never see you again. They'd kill me or-or worse-" you were unable to finish your thoughts as you bury your face in Kylo's chest.

His arms slowly snake around you, pulling you even closer as he sits down on the edge of the thick mattress. He swallows as his throat swells. Your body trembles in his grasp, your shoulders heaving as you sob and hiccup.

"I'm here..." he says quietly. "You're safe again."

Kylo tries to pull away, but you don't let him. Your arms wrap tightly around his neck, your tears soaking into his shoulder. You feel his tenseness slowly fade away as he grows more comfortable with the embrace. A hug was something you figured he had been deprived of for a long time. Affection in general was a concept he wasn't quite used to. Kylo closes his eyes, his face buried in your neck. His next words surprise you.

"I thought I lost you."

You pull away and cup his face gently, your thumb grazing his full lips. With a short breath, you lean in and press your lips against his. Kylo returns the kiss, his arms wrapping tightly around your waist to pull you in closer than before. When you pull apart for air, he cups your face in his large hands, wiping the tears from your skin with his rough thumbs.

"I need you to calm down for me," he whispers. "We need to talk. I need you to be able to tell me about what happened. As much as you can." Kylo releases your face, placing his hands on your thighs and practically engulfing them with his grasp. You wipe away the remainder of your tears with your wrist and nod, sniffing. He nods at you. "Good girl. I need you to tell me exactly who took you."

That was easy enough. "K-Kess." You reply softly.

Kylo clenches his jaw and his eyes flash with anger. "That's what I suspected. We already have him in a holding cell. The bastard kept trying to convince me he was innocent. Did he take you straight to the Black Sun?" When you nod, Kylo continues. "And they turned you into a slave?" Another stiff nod. "What did they make you do?"

Your heart skips a beat at the recent memory of it. "Not much. Just... a lot of cleaning and two days in the cantina."

"The cantina? Did they touch you?" Kylo's eyebrows raise.

You wince. "A little bit. Some of them groped me."

He tenses up, his grip on your thighs tightening protectively. "Did..." he hesitates. "The doctors weren't sure if something happened and they couldn't run tests until you woke up. I wanted to be the one to ask. Did they..." another deep breath "...rape you?"

The word makes you shudder. You couldn't imagine what you would do if it actually happened. "No. Nobody did." This seems to relieve him a little bit. "But I don't know what Gido would have done if he bought me. He knew I was with the Order and-"

Kylo does a double-take. "Gido? Gido Corr?" When you nod Kylo scowls, his grip tightening even more. "That son of a bitch! I'll kill him for that. I'm cutting all ties with the Crimson Dawn and strangling him with my bare hands."

"Ow-" you wince "-Kylo, you're hurting me."

He releases his grip at once. "Sorry." Kylo's gaze softens and he lifts his hand, gingerly grazing the bruise on your cheekbone. "What else did they do to you?"

"I don't know." You admit.

And you really didn't so much had happened to you that you didn't know which wounds were still visible. Obviously the doctors hadn't given Kylo a clear report on all of your injuries. You didn't really want to let him see. You felt ashamed for some twisted reason. But the look on his face made you change your mind. He needed to know what they did.

"You can look." You whisper, lowering your eyes.

Kylo leaps at the opportunity. He takes your face in his hands and carefully observes it. Every small cut or makings of a bruise was inspected. His hands run down your shoulders and arms, pausing at the sight of your wrists. They were red and had been rubbed raw from those Force-blockers. Kylo looks over your legs and fortunately finds nothing. He takes you gently by the shoulders and turns you so your back is facing him. He pauses as his fingers meet the edge of the bandages.

"Can I-" he asks carefully.

You nod and hang your head, staring down at the pillow as you feel the bandage slowly unravel. Your skin meets cold air and you cross your arms tightly over your exposed chest, covering your breasts as much as possible. You feel Kylo's eyes glued to your back. "Is it... bad?"

"Yes." Kylo says truthfully. "It's nothing time can't heal." His hand gingerly slides across your back, fingers grazing the angry red welts. "They whipped you."

"Y-Yes." Your voice breaks. "After I watched a guard kill one of the only people that showed me kindness. I don't know what Dorno would have done if you hadn't shown up. H-How did you find me?"

"We traced the ship out to the Outer Rim before he turned off the tracker. After a few days, the officers slowed the search because they told me it was highly possible you were dead. Then I felt it. I felt you. I don't know how you managed to do it with those blockers on but... you did. As soon as I found out where you were, I offered enough credits to win that sleazebag over." He grits his teeth. "He tried to convince me to look at the other girls."

Then it hit you. The girls. You had promised them a way out. "Kylo." You turn quickly, pulling the blanket up to cover your chest. "The girls. I made a promise. I swore that I would get them out. Please go back for them. Please just-"

Kylo silences you quickly. "I can't just take the Black Sun's slaves. That's not my business."

"Are you kidding?" Your brow furrows. "Kylo, they're going through the exact same thing I did. Some of them have it worse. You can't just do nothing! Those girls have people that care about them too. One of them--Lani--she was a Stormtrooper. Kess did the same with her that he did to me. He got seventeen girls, Kylo, seventeen."

"The slave industry does not concern me. What the Black Sun does is none of my business unless it affects the Order. I won't risk starting trouble with an entire syndicate and their allies just to free some girls you happened to befriend." He says flatly.

"I promised-"

"Sometimes you have to break your promises." Kylo snaps.

"You seem to know a lot about that." You reply coldly.

He freezes, his voice low and cold like death. "What's that supposed to mean?"

You scoff. "I'm talking about the promises we made to each other. That we would never leave each other. The promise that you made me keep. The one that you broke."

"That's not the same thing."

"Isn't it?" A cold laugh escapes your lips. "They're both promises about abandoning people, aren't they?"

"I didn't abandon you." For some reason, the words seem to choke Kylo up. "I would never abandon you. And I'm not going to argue about this now."

"That was abandoning me. You made me think you were dead!"

"I've done worse." He scoffs.

Your fury was at a boiling point now. "You mean like murdering Xian? Killing hundreds of innocent people? Slaughtering the Jedi at the Temple? Kidnapping and tricking me? And don't think I don't know about you killing your father."

Kylo's eyes flash with anger. "Do not talk about my father!"

"Why? Do you regret what you did to him? Do you regret murdering him in cold blood because you were too afraid to face what you had done? You're a coward, that's all. You-"

You are cut off by Kylo's hand wrapping tightly around your throat. His anger had leaped from a spark into a flame just by the mere mention of Han Solo. It blinded him and put you right in his path. The feeling of his hand around your throat might not have bothered you before, but now that you knew it was followed by pain from your short time as a slave, it frightened you.

"Kylo-" you choke out. "-stop. Please."

He slowly releases you. "I'm sorry," he breathes, eyes glazing over. "I-I'm sorry." Kylo rises from the bed and backs away. "I'll leave you be."

You rub your sore neck. "Kylo... if there's something you want to say to me, do it now. I can tell when something is on your mind."

"I-" he hesitates "-I'm glad you're alright." Kylo turns on his heel, storming out of the room before you could get a chance to say something else.

You sigh and lean back against the plastic headboard of the hospital bed. You knew that what he had said wasn't what he wanted to say. Kylo was too stubborn to give in that easily. Whatever was on his mind, it would take him a long time to own up to it. He had been like that back when he was Ben as well. He always had a hard time admitting to something. Even if he was wrong, he would argue until you were on the verge of pommeling him.

Kylo's shoulders heave as he storms down the corridor. He wanted to put as much distance between him and the hospital wing as possible. He tugs his gloves back on, his fingers rolling into fists. His hands were clenched so tightly that the leather was squeaking. Kylo swallows, his bottom lip quivering. The door to his quarters slides shut behind him as he rushes inside. Not letting up his quick pace, he doesn't stop until he reaches his bathroom.

Kylo braces his hands on the counter, gripping it tightly. He looks up at his reflection in the mirror, scowling at his reflection. He wouldn't admit it, but he was frightened. He was terrified of telling you what he really wanted to. Kylo's breathing begins to pick up as he stares intensely. With a yell of anger, he slams both fists into the mirror. It shatters into dozens of pieces, spraying over the counter and the floor. The glass crunches as he sinks to his knees, tears pricking at his eyes. No, he thinks angrily. I'm stronger than this. I'm not weak. Kylo sinks to the floor, his back sliding down the wall. Then why am I so scared?

~

You were released from the hospital ward exactly two days later. The wounds you had acquired didn't require extreme medical attention and would heal over time with the help of a special ointment. Despite the small argument between you and your master, there was no bad blood between you two. Kylo took good care of you the moment you got out of that bed. In fact, he was more insistent about the medicine for your back than the doctors. Truthfully you didn't know if it was because he cared about you or because the faster you healed, the faster your training could resume. Kylo was also very stubborn about where you slept. He insisted on you sleeping in his bed so he could keep a close eye on you. There was still a risk of infection from the wounds and that could lead to an unpleasant fever.

On the morning of the third day, came the conversation that you had been dreading ever since your return. You knew you weren't going to like it the second Kylo walked into the room with that look on his face. You sit up slowly in his bed, eyebrows furrowed at the expression he wore.

"What's the matter?" You ask hesitantly.

Kylo sighs. "I can only keep prisoners in holding cells for so long without interrogation. This confrontation of that Stormtrooper needs to happen today. The longer we wait, the more difficult this is going to be."

You swallow dryly. "I-I'll get ready then."

You could tell Kylo was surprised by your reaction. He had been expecting you to argue with him, but truthfully you wanted closure just as much as he did. If not more. You had so many questions for Kess that you didn't even know where to start. It was strange that you were avoiding this confrontation, but it was very necessary. You knew Kylo was itching to get his hands on Kess. To make him pay for everything he had done. This was partly just an excuse for him to get the vengeance he desired.

As you rummage through your closet, you decide to pick a dress that wasn't too over-the-top this time. It was black--obviously--and hugged your figure nicely up to your hips. From there on, it hung loosely around your legs. The top had long, tight sleeves and a low cut back. You wanted Kess to see what he had brought upon you. Not wanting the Stormtroopers and other officers to notice too much of it, you keep your hair down.

"Are you ready?" Kylo asks as you finally take a step towards him.

You nod stiffly and Kylo takes his place beside you as the two of you walk down the corridor. His hand settles protectively on your lower back. It could have been a gesture of comfort or to keep passer-bys from staring at you. Everyone within the First Order knew what had happened to their Supreme Leader's apprentice. Word traveled quickly, like hot gossip through a school. The further you both walk through the Supremacy, the more your heart begins to pound. Could you really face him? He was the man who had brought such a horrible fate upon you. And not just you. You were number seventeen of all the girls he had brought in. You had to face him and it wasn't just to get the weight off of your own shoulders. It was to bring justice to all of the girls he had harmed before. To all of the girls who didn't matter enough to the First Order to have search parties sent after them and had fates worse than yours. They deserved this.

Just as you arrive in front of the thick door leading into Kess's holding cell, Kylo stops you. He removes his hand from your back. "If anything goes wrong, I'm here."

You bite your lip and force yourself to nod. It was by your own request that Kylo would remain standing outside. You could tell it bothered him, but he was in no place to refuse. Taking a deep breath, the door slides open and you step inside. The sight of the holding cell makes you shudder. It was dimly lit and the only lights were around the prisoner on the wall. This cell was very different from the one you had experienced in the very beginning of your time with the Order. This one made the one you had seem almost cozy.

Kess was strung up on the wall between two tall metal poles. Thick chains were latched onto his wrists, pulling his arms apart spread-eagle. His legs were held together by restraints and his entire body was slumped forward. The sandy blonde hair you had found so attractive was now covering his face and greasy from not being washed. It was clear either the troopers or Kylo had done a number on him. He would have appeared dead, had it not been for the steady rising and falling of his chest. You slowly approach him, certain that he was asleep.

"I was beginning to wonder when you would visit." His hoarse voice startles you and you take a step back. Kess lifts his head and gives you a weak smile. "You've still kept that wild fire in your eyes that I love so much."

This sparks anger within you and your confidence begins to rise. "You don't get to love anything about me. Not after what you did to me."

Kess chuckles weakly. "Don't take it personal, Commander. You were just another pawn in my game of chess with the Black Sun. You understand, don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I don't." You retort calmly. "What would drive you to manipulate innocent girls and sell them into slavery?"

"The First Order isn't exactly a luxury job." He scoffs. "But I get the feeling you're not just talking about yourself here."

Your nails dig into the palms of your hands, leaving red crescents behind. "I'm not. Seventeen. That's the number of girls you gave me. Seventeen girls that had their whole lives ripped away from them because of your greed and selfishness. You're sick, you know that?"

Kess scoffs once more, driving even more anger through your veins. How could he be so careless and lack so much empathy? "I saved those girls, if anything. The First Order is no place to live. I gave them a chance at a better life."

"Is that really what you think? You think getting sold off, beaten, and sexually abused is a 'better way of life'?" You echo incredulously.

"Don't be so dramatic."

You stare at him, lips parted in shock and eyes filling with sadness. Slowly, you turn around and move your hair, revealing the rest of the marks from the lashes you had been given. Kess goes silent at the sight of them. You turn back to him, "that's what I thought."

"They only beat the bad ones." He snarls coldly.

You wanted to beat him within an inch of his life. You wanted him to suffer and feel the same pain you had felt every single day. But you couldn't. The only way to make him really writhe and scream was to use someone who knew exactly how to inflict pain. If Kylo was going to be the last face Kess saw, then you would make sure he would fear that face. Wordlessly, you turn on your heel and storm out of the room. As the door slides open, Kylo straightens up and reaches for you.