Between it All

The Plan

Kylo was resting on his bed when he heard a banging at the door. The man groaned as he sat up. He barely slept the previous night, as he kept waking up nearly every hour from nightmares. He pushed back his tangled hair and slid off the silky black sheets. Restoring his usual mask of indifference, he balled up his fist and opened the door.

General Hux answered with a sly grin. "Good morning, Ren."

"General," Kylo replied curtly.

Hux began talking as he invited himself into Ren's room. "We will have a meeting later today to discuss this matter, but I wanted to speak to you privately."

Kylo raised an eyebrow.

Hux continued, "The First Order has decided to create a new weapon...one such that has never been built before." He paused. "Details are still being...finalized, but I am going to need your help. In order to build this weapon, I will require a large amount of kyber crystals."

Kylo shook his head. "All remaining kyber was destroyed by—"

Hux cut Ren off, earning a glare from the imposing man.

"—and that's where you come in. The Resistance has the coordinates of the last known planet that may contain these crystals. And I want you to get them for me.... By any means necessary."

Kylo frowned. "Who are you to order me around, General?" He spat Hux's title, reminding him of his place. "Leave me."

"I'm sorry?" Hux asked incredulously, glaring at Kylo.

"I said, leave me," Kylo snarled back, staring down the lanky ginger. His hands were clenched into fists.

Hux moved his tongue around inside his mouth, and with a tilt of his head, slithered away. The door slammed behind him.

Kylo bit the inside of his cheek, staring towards the door, but not really seeing anything. He was jolted out of his daze by a sensation of pain in his hands. He opened them and looked down at his palms. Blood began to well up in fingernail-shaped lines. Kylo parted his lips and loosed a shuddering breath. 

Rey...

_____________

Rey strode towards the Falcon's common room, pushing away all thoughts of her encounter with Kylo. She forced a bright glimmer into her eyes as she arrived, spotting Leia, Poe, and Chewie sitting around a table. Several other Resistance members were hanging out, some of them munching on breakfast.

Rey glanced over at a man talking to the girl, Rose Tico, as he turned around to see who had arrived.

"Rey!" Finn exclaimed, hurrying over to greet Rey with a bright-eyed smile.

"Good morning, Finn," Rey smiled.

"Hey, uh, you hungry?" The ex-stormtrooper extended a hand to Rey, brandishing some sort of biscuit.

Rey held up a hand with a laugh. "No, no, I'm okay, thanks. I'm not that hungry right now."

Finn shrugged and headed back over to Rose, and resumed their conversation. Rose giggled, throwing her arms up in the air.

To be perfectly honest, Rey hadn't felt hungry at all lately. At dinners, she had to force herself to eat-- and during the day, she could just pretend to take food back to her room. Even Leia had commented that she wasn't being very social. Rey shrugged it off as, "I'm just tired," even though they both knew it was a lie. She just couldn't shake the guilt of leaving Ben with the First Order. What if they were to find out? Rey couldn't get rid of the sensation of something being...wrong.

"Hey, Rey?"

The voice pulled her back to reality. She hadn't realized that she was just staring at nothing. She shook her head a bit and turned towards the direction of the voice. The pilot Poe Dameron was staring quizzically back at her.

"...sorry," Rey said with a shake of her head. She walked over to the group of people (and Chewbacca) and sat down next to Poe. She scratched the palms of her hands, which had become itchy and red.

"Sooo, we're almost there..." Poe said with a grin. "I really hope this base has some tech. Ya' know, something better than those crumbly buckets-of-bolts we had on Crait." He laughed. "I guess the salt wasn't too good for 'em, ay?"

Leia piped up, "This base was completely unknown by the enemy in the days of the Empire. So much so, that I'm not sure it ever saw the battles it was prepared for. So, if everything I think is true, the only supplies we'll be lacking are men." She raised her eyebrows for emphasis.

"--and curiously enough," she added, "there just so happens to be the planet Axelrae nearby." Rey shot her a confused look as to why this would be so important.

Leia smiled. "Axelrae is the last known planet to ever contain kyber crystals... that is, the last planet that hasn't been destroyed..." her voice lowered as she looked around at the group.

Rey shot her head up. "You mean--if I were to get one of those crystals, I could make a new lightsaber...!" Her chest filled with hope.

Leia looked at her and shrugged, smiling.