Accidental Video; Horrible Roommates Being Horrible

[darthvaderfanboy]

[The video turns on haphazardly, staring up as if someone had flung it across the room and accidentally turned it on. Which, incidentally, is exactly what happened. There's a red glare as Kylo's lightsaber comes into view. He slashes at someone just out of view, missing them, and instead taking out part of the couch.]

I've had it with you! I'll make you wish you'd died as a child!

[Then his toe hits the video, sending it spinning and landing in another spot.]

Oh like I'm going to be scared of a pathetic version of Darth Vader. You have no idea how many times I wanted to abandon you on Hoth.

[There is a loud clambering as Hux got out of the way and when the video settles he can be seen with his blaster in his hand, eyes shining with a mad fury.

He raises the blaster and fires a few shots aimed at Kylo, but a few shots hit the walls and destroy the couch.

Kylo blocks the blaster shots with an almost contemptuous ease, his lightsaber twirling in front of him in a back and forth pattern. He stops the last shot in midair, sending it sailing back towards Hux.]

Is that the best you can do? My mother is a better shot, you Tarkin-wannabe.

[Now he was just hitting below the belt.]

You did not-

[Hux barely manages to dodge the reflected blast, which hit the opposite wall, leaving a deep mark. He's back on his feet to fire a few more shots with a growl of fury. He doesn't care where they land, he just wants to make Kylo suffer.]

Oh, please, you just sit and talk to your grandfather's helmet. 'I will finish what you started' - that's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. You're just an embarrassment.

[Kylo goes very still for a moment, the video's skewed perspective making him look about seven feet tall. Everything nearby him begins to rattle with the power of the Force. Then, with a roar of fury, they all lift up, and began hurling themselves at Hux.]

I have more power than you could ever dream of! You think firing off your little superweapon gives you power? You're nothing. Just a bastard who got lucky.

[Hux's expression turns ugly, he's spent his entire life being called a bastard no matter how much he tried to put his past behind him.]

My little superweapon? The superweapon I could use to command the power of the stars when I destroyed the entire Hosnian System? I destroyed the Republic, their Senate, and their entire fleet in a moment while you sulked like a litt-

[He paused suddenly as he noticed the device, walking towards it.] You idiot, you left your phone on.

[Kylo looks over his shoulder at the phone. Great. They'd just broadcast that entire argument to the network. Now everyone knows about the Hosnian System. With a frustrated growl, he picks up a nearby lamp, and throws at Hux's head, not caring if it actually connects or not.]

This is your fault, you smug moron.

[Their physical altercation is done. The bickering is far from over.]

Comments

[prophesiedone]

[He closes his eyes, seeking calm. How does he deal with this? The three of them are too emotional. One of them needs to be a mediator and it better be the one with the most power.]

I'll set things to rights if Luke and Leia come here, don't worry.

[His eyes open, gaze sharp.]

You need a place to live. Stop destroying it.

[darthvaderfanboy]

[That gets a raised eyebrow out of Kylo.]

Good luck getting through their heads. You'll need a hammer.

[Stubbornness is definitely a family trait, his mother an especially bad case. At the reprimand, he shrinks down again, but now it's more like sulking than before. Alright, so getting into an all-out explosive fight with Hux wasn't the best idea he's ever had.]

We're moving.

[prophesiedone]

I'm more stubborn than them. [He hopes? No, he is. He doesn't have a choice.] You'll destroy that home too if you keep it up.

[Children.]

I think you have too much energy. I've spoken to Hux about Snoke, but I'd like to talk to you about him too.

[darthvaderfanboy]

[Now there's something he'd like to see. Considering this place seems to be drawing in people from his galaxy like a magnet, he's not going to be the least surprise if more of his family shows up in some unwanted family reunion.]

I have a destructive nature.

[Well, truth be told, he has a childish nature prone to temper tantrums. Same thing when he gets down to it. The mention of his master causes a twitch to run through Kylo's face. It's ambiguous as to whether that's good or bad.]

What do you want to know?

[prophesiedone]

Only because you are not being properly occupied. [They are both violent - dangerous - but Anakin has his Jedi training to fall back on when he is truly furious.] I want to know why he keeps himself shrouded in mystery when you need him to teach you.

[He is not okay with his grandson being mistreated, Snoke.]

A true Master should be with you. In person.

[darthvaderfanboy]

He's always with me. He's in my mind and has been for a long time.

[Yes, he's aware that's not normal for most people, but Kylo's never been normal. Still, he's hardly going to tell Anakin about how his master has been whispering to him since he was a child. That'll just make Snoke sound like the bad guy and Kylo knows he's not.]

Except for here. I haven't been able to sense his presence since I arrived here.

[If anything, he was worse when he had first come to Hadriel. Now he had to think for himself. Away from the cloying presence of Snoke, his influence had begun to lessen.]

[prophesiedone]

[Multiple lines have been crossed; Anakin can see that. Snoke would be facing a very angry grandfather if he were alive in Ben's time.]

How long? [Children are trained to be Jedi at a young age. If Snoke did the same for Ben - he took away his grandson's choice in the matter. He groomed him.]

I will test him should he arrive. [And kill him, but Ben doesn't need to know about that.] I'd like to see you thrive outside of his presence. You don't need him.

[darthvaderfanboy]

As long as I can remember.

[Alright, even Kylo will admit that sounds bad. He's very certain most people would refer to that as brainwashing. But it's hard to tell what's his own choice and what's been put in there by his master after so long.]

Maybe not. [Nope, he doesn't believe that.] But I do need someone to teach me. [He's got multiple someones here in Hadriel. Though he does find some of Ahsoka's methods a little questionable, but that's mainly because she beat him by a mile the first time he'd faced off against her.]

[prophesiedone]

[Damn him, damn him damn him. A piece of metal near Anakin's feet - it is anyone's guess what it used to be - warps as if it is being pounded by a large fist.]

No, you don't need him. [He schools himself into a state of calm detachment.] I could teach you. I would...

It's the best outcome for both of us. [Ben gets to learn from his grandfather and his grandfather gets to know him.]

[darthvaderfanboy]

[Kylo's doesn't smile, but his eyes light up when his grandfather mentions the offer to train him. All he's ever wanted was to be as strong as Darth Vader and here the man was himself offering to train him.]

I'd like that.

[He barely manages to keep the eagerness out of his voice. His path to the Dark Side is that much closer.]

[prophesiedone]

[That hunger... To learn, to be more powerful... Anakin knows it. He can see it shining in his grandson's eyes and it makes him smile.]

I won't be easy on you. Ahsoka could tell you about that.

[darthvaderfanboy]

[He's always wanted more. Luke had held him back. Snoke's training hadn't been fully completed. He needed to learn more.

...Wait a minute. Back up.]

Who's that?

[She'd given her name as Fulcrum when they first met and he'd known her as nothing else since.]

[prophesiedone]

She was once my Padawan. [He feels a rush of sentimentality, but he clamps down on it before it can transform his features.] She is in Hadriel; I would be surprised if you haven't met her already.

[Force-users are rare and they have a certain...sense...of each other.]

[darthvaderfanboy]

[There was only one other Force-user he knew of in the caves. Suddenly, her unwillingness to speak of her past or let Kylo know much about her was making a lot more sense.]

Is she the Togruta?

[No wonder the Force had pushed the two of them together. There was that echo of a connection between them.]

[prophesiedone]

She's probably the only Togruta, so I can safely say yes. [He watches Ben curiously.] Her name is Ahsoka, but I called her Snips.

I guess she's...whoever she wants to be now. [Not a Jedi but trained in the Force. Not a Padawan of Anakin Skywalker. Knowing her, she will be an enemy of Darth Vader too.]

[darthvaderfanboy]

She introduced herself to me as Fulcrum. [He'd known from the records that Anakin Skywalker had an apprentice, but he'd never given much thought to what must have happened to her. After all. she would have been an old woman by his time.]

Of course. It makes so much sense. [Then Kylo laughs, a sound somewhere between amusement and hysteria. Sometimes it feels like the Force has him connected to about 25% of the galaxy at any given time. This doesn't disprove his theory.] She's been training me.

[prophesiedone]

At least she doesn't consider herself outside of everything. [For fulcrums play essential roles, do they not? He will always miss her, but the past is gone and all he can do is hang onto the future with everything he has at his disposal.]

...Ben? [The laughter unnerves him - mainly because he has heard the sound come from his own mouth.] Has she?

Did you tell her who you are?

[darthvaderfanboy]

I challenged her when I first came her. She proved to be the far better opponent. I don't know why she was still willing to train me after that, but she did. [She'd beaten him soundly and taught him some respect for her in the same lesson.]

Not in so many words. [He'd told her that Anakin was his grandfather. That was enough.] But I think she's figured it out.

[prophesiedone]

Why wouldn't she want to train you? She would want to save you from me. [His lips twist sourly.] I respect her as an opponent; I know she can hold her own, but she will not agree with my decision.

[Anakin scoffs.] Of course she did. It's a shame. I could have found out more about her through you.

[darthvaderfanboy]

All she would tell me is that she left the Jedi Order. There's been quite a lack in what she's been willing to let me know. [She mostly listened while Ren talked. Not that he was particularly candid in what he was telling her either.]

Sounds like there's a history between you two. [Someone more respectful might leave it there. Kylo Ren has never had enough respect for his elders.] What happened?

[prophesiedone]

She can tell you why if she chooses. It isn't my story. [He definitely doesn't hold it against her. The Jedi are intensely misguided.] You could say that.

[More than a little history and Anakin still holds her dear. Deep down.]

She was my apprentice. We saw a lot together and the Jedi betrayed her.

[darthvaderfanboy]

Huh....[Kylo absorbs all that with a slow blink.]

This explains a lot. [Namely, why he'd felt something like a push from the Force trying to get him to connect with her. Also, if she'd had Anakin as her teacher, no wonder she'd become so powerful in the Force. It was a good thing he hadn't known this before taking her on. Otherwise, he might have thought twice about trying to fight her.]

[prophesiedone]

Does it? [Do fill him in on those epiphanies, Ben. He is missing some rather crucial realizations himself such as the one that involves him being unable to save Padmé.] She isn't like me and she isn't like you will be.

[darthvaderfanboy]

When I first came here, I felt a connection to her through the Force. I didn't understand it, why I was being pushed towards someone not of the Dark Side. She's shown me a lot. [Namely, a path of walking both sides that he thought he would never achieve. Snoke had always made him believe that only the Dark Side was the true path to the power he craved.]