into the darkness - kylo ren / ben solo

chapter three - trials and tribulations

Luna woke from a deep sleep the next morning, not remembering much about the night before. It was about an hour before her training session was supposed to start, not that she wanted to go. She didn't even want to get out of bed. But she didn't want a visit from any First Order officials, so she forced herself out of bed and got dressed in a sleek black dress that would be comfortable for her to train in. After she brushed her hair out and made herself look presentable, she made her way over to Cassie's room. As she went to reach for the doorknob, the door opened. A certain redheaded man stopped in his tracks, looking surprised to see her there. "Luna! Ah, Cassie was just asking me about your training. Yes, yes. Got to get going. Busy day," Hux mumbled and slipped past her quickly.

Cassie made her way over to the door and greeted Luna with her usual bright and cheery smile. She must not have heard the news yet. Luna hated the idea of breaking it to her. Maybe she would wait for later. She made her way into Cassie's room. It had the same layout as her own, but it appeared that Cassie had been decorating already. A vase with lovely ruby red roses sat on her kitchen table. "Pretty," Luna said softly, and looked over to her friend, who was wearing a beautiful and frilly forest green dress. She was also wearing makeup, which was odd, because she seemed to prefer to go natural. Luna shrugged it off and figured that it was their first official day on Starkiller, and Cassie must have dressed up for the occasion.

She and Cassie chatted for a bit about their plans for the day. Cassie seemed in a much better mood than usual. About fifteen minutes before her training session with Kylo, Luna said her goodbyes with Cassie and made her way to the training room, which was a huge room with weapons lining the walls.

Standing in the center of the room was a handsome young man with striking dark hair. He was wearing a black sweater and dark jeans. He looked at her expectantly. Was he another student of Kylo's? If so, maybe she would enjoy training sessions. She made her way over to where he was standing. "I'm Luna," she greeted him softly.

He raised an eyebrow, rolled his eyes and turned to grab a pole off the wall. "Todays first task is to beat me. First person to go unconscious loses. No tap outs," he said before throwing Luna a pole.

Her jaw dropped when she recognized the man's voice. It was Kylo. Her first task was going to be to fight him? He wasn't going to teach her any of his fancy dark side moves beforehand? Really? He threw the pole at her and she went to catch it but failed miserably. She frowned and grabbed the pole off the ground, looking up at her mentor, who was smirking and already in his fighting stance.

Luna was still angry with the man in front of her, so she figured maybe beating him to a pulp with this wooden pole would help her cope with the things she was feeling. She got into a fighting stance. He studied the way she was standing, tsking. "This'll be quick."

He ran toward her and she panicked. He was too fast, and his weapon made contact with her leg. She cried out in pain and fell to the ground. He stopped for a second and stared down at her. "You're weak. You can't expect to be babied all your life, Princess. Get up," he snarled.

"Asshole," Luna said under her breath as she forced herself onto her feet. She rubbed her thigh and frowned. That was going to be one hell of a bruise. He threw her pole to her and got back into his fighting stance. She tried to imitate him, this time using her weight to find balance in her stance.

He ran forward once more, and Luna stood her ground. She watched his movements closely. This was a time for her to really put all of her effort into focusing. When his pole came down, aiming for her shoulder, she blocked it with her own weapon. He genuinely looked surprised for a second, before returning back to his stoic self. She grinned, proud of herself. But her achievements had distracted her, and she felt a harsh blow to her stomach. Kylo had gotten the best of her once again. But for some reason she figured he was going easy on her.

She bent over in agony, feeling like she was going to be sick. But this time Kylo didn't give her any time to recompose herself. He came at her again, this time with a determination in his eyes that terrified her. She grabbed her pole and blocked his just in time. He had aimed for her head this time around. He wasn't playing any games.

As he came toward her again she had to think fast. She noticed that he was limping on his right leg a bit. Maybe he had been injured on a recent mission? Either way, she was looking forward to exploiting his weakness. He was aiming for her head again, determined to catch her slipping up. She dodged his attack quickly and aimed her weapon at his shin. With all her might, she hit his shin. She smiled in satisfaction when she felt the impact. That's what you get, she thought as she heard him grunting in an attempt to conceal his pain.

He took a second to regain his composure and then he whipped around, eyes shining with a new kind of anger that Luna had never seen before. Luna smirked. "Don't be weak," she said softly, trying to get a rise out of him. The more emotional he was, the less composed he was. And that meant she had a chance.

Her mentor smirked, and made his way over to her casually, as if they were done sparring. "You're doing good." The compliment threw Luna off her guard, and she could feel her cheeks growing warm. Just as she was about to reply, his weapon made contact with the back of her head, and everything went black.