Life, death, & the in between

Chapter Eight

Her grip loosened involuntarily, the connection in her touch fading I turn to face her, my body begging to feel her embrace. "No, don't let go...we don't have to understand it...just don't let..." sadness riddled her face "I'm not doing it, whatever allowed us to momentarily feel one another is fading."

Staring at her from behind my mask thankful for its concealment blocking the steady stream of tears now slipping down my cheeks I reach out for her, desperately begging the feel her again, only to be met with nothingness, the cold harsh air of the steadfast ship. "Is what you were saying to that girl true? Are you going to try and murder her to somehow bring me back?"

Those beautiful eyes glittering up at me filled with confusion and fear "say it isn't true Kylo...tell me you wouldn't kill an innocent person in my name..." the fingers caressing her shapeless face close into a fist, snarling "I'd kill every man, woman, and child in the universe if it meant I could have you back. Once again (y/n) you underestimate my power, my desire to feel you again."

There was a knock at the door pulling my attention away from her disheartened expression "supreme leader, we've discovered the location of the necklace."

Turning to March away only briefly addressing the growing situation in her disposition "I  love you (y/n) more than you could bear to understand. Killing the scavenger is only the beginning of what I'm willing to do to have you again, I'm so close I could nearly taste you. Soon...I'm so close...so soon." And with that turning sharply leaving her standing silently in the temporary quarters marching out into the hall informing the eavesdropping security personnel "prepare my ship, alert the troops. Send a division."

*****

Arriving at the planet Passana almost immediately, the search for the scavenger was still deep underway. She had been sighted but lost yet again, fuming slamming my first down against the dashboard commanding the searching troopers "DO NOT LOSE HER AGAIN."

Even after looking tirelessly throughout the festival, questioning the Aki-Aki on her whereabouts proved useless as none would squeal even with the threats of their village destruction. It was nearing dusk when another sighting had been made, her and a few others, that traitor trooper amongst them fled through the desert lands eluding those futile troopers yet again. If they hadn't all been killed in the escape repercussions would have been significant, night fell with still no luck when finally deciding it best to return to the makeshift campsite that had been forcefully borrowed by some very generous villagers.

"Continue searching for the girl, if captured kill the rest, she's the only one I need alive. That's an order." My knights March off into the darkness leaving me to my thoughts as I remove my helmet tossing it atop a small worn mattress lying on the dirt-covered floor, the blackness of my mask standing out against its brightly colored bedsheets.

Dropping down onto the lumpy mat running both hands through my hair sighing heavily the day's frustration flowing out with each breath, how is it that I could be so close to a victory yet so far? How could an entire group of resistance members slip past the mass of the first order? That girl, Rey, she's enjoying this, toying with my emotions she thinks this is a game. But oh how wrong she is, I will not accept defeat, this is a game I am unwilling to lose, by tomorrow I will have her and her little friends and I'll show her what it's like to truly suffer.

Tossing and turning it's impossible to sleep on a mattress that seems to be made of sand and stone, what's worse is my feet sticking out the bottom of the covers scraping the dirt beneath them. Huffing into the muffled commotion of the still extravagant parade outside, rolling onto my back staring at the blank canvas tarp above me, mind racing.