All of the Stars

Part 44: Quell

"Kylo, he's injured..." Your voice was hesitant, it was hard to believe your eyes. Blood ran freely from a gash in Hux's leg, the stream running redder than his hair.

"What's happened?" Kylo barked, moving forward with his hand outstretched, his palm starting to glow.

Hux shook his head, his eyes wide with wild fear, pushing Kylo away he simply pointed out the door and down the hall he had been sprinting down.

"It's Rey." He managed to say, his chest heaving as if he hadn't taken a breath in years.

Drawing his hand away quickly he brought it to his side, changing course to dodge Hux and continue down the hall. In a split second, you were after him, your footsteps pounding as loudly as you imagined your heard was.

The closer you drew to the room the louder it became, the sickening sound of a fist impacting on flesh and bone, thudding like a beat.

Just before Kylo reached the door he stopped abruptly, you draw up on the opposite side of the door, your eyes meeting Kylo's.

I'm sorry for treating you like a child. His voice fills your mind, this time devoid of his anger or authority.

You hold your gaze with Kylo, taking a breath before shaking your head.

Later.

You know it isn't the answer Kylo wanted to hear, but there was no time. You tighten your grip on your saber, trying to focus on the hum, the comforting glow. Taking breaths before you enter the room that you were sure held a scene you didn't want to see.

"On three." Kylo breathed, raking his hair from his face and rolling his shoulders. Out of the corner of your eye, you watch Finn nod hesitantly.

"One... Two.." Kylo pauses taking one last breath.

"Three!" You finish, dashing from the doorway and into the room.

The space was in carnage. Tables and chairs were flung across the room, smashed and lying broken.

Your eyes widen in horror as you notice a figure on the ground, limbs bent at unnatural angles.

For a moment there was silence. Just as you are about to run to the figure a small movement captures your eye. Crouching behind what must have been a table is Tyler, his face covered in fresh blood. Silently he shakes his head and gestures to the side.

Looking up towards the body once more you see a woman, her stance confident.

"Oh, so you came to save your friends?" Rey's voice was chilling. Towering over the figure, her eyes were cold even as they burnt brightly.

"Rey, you need to leave them alone..." You take a slow step forward, feeling Kylo close behind you.

Rey laughed, it was high pitched and loud and yet there was no humour.

"Leave them?" She questioned. Her blue saber lit up the room as she swung it around her hands, letting the hum intensify. You held your breath as it got dangerously close to the crouched figure you now knew was Poe, his curls matted and dark with blood.

"You don't know what you did to me..." Rey paused, the saber hanging loosely in her hand, close to her leg.

You stop shaking your head slowly.

"We didn't do anything, Rey..." You turn off your saber, letting the golden light disappear and instead bring up your hands.

Rey looks up, her eyes a deeper gold than your saber was and fixes you with a hard stare causing you to freeze.

"You stop at nothing for power. I lost everything I had gained." Her voice shook as she spoke, trembling like a child.

You shove your saber into your waistband and bring up your hands, showing her your bare palms.

"Please, Rey, we took nothing." You speak to her but keep your eyes fixed on Poe, he was breathing shallowly. It was a better sign than no breath at all.

Rey narrowed her eyes, now you could see tears forming between the slits.

"You took me from Finn," Her voice was low and deadly, "you confined me to an island for months..." She took a deep breath, you watched her grip on the saber tighten fractionally. "The First Order is the reason I don't have my parents..."

Behind you, you heard a small movement of clothing.

"We could never have been together, Rey. I fell for someone else." Finn's voice was as low as Rey's had been, but there was no anger only pain in his tone.

Rey tightened her grip even more.

Kylo... You warned, feeling your heard start to beat faster as Poe made a small movement, he was waking up.

"Don't you see, you could never be happy with them, Finn. You need power, you need me." Rey's eyes widened in pleading.

"Rey isn't it obvious, those around us are the reason we are alive." Finn had his hand stretched towards Rey, although you couldn't see his face, his shoulders were tense beneath his jacket.

"You don't love me." Rey's voice peaked as if she was asking a question, but her stance suggested she knew the answer.

"I can't love you." He replied, shaking his head slightly, his shoulders relaxed as he said this, and as he drew in a breath to say more you noticed Rey tense.

"Do you know what it is like to lose somebody you love?" Her words grow in hatred as she speaks.

"Rey, no!" Kylo's shout was as sudden as the movement Rey had made, in an instant, her tight grip on the saber had lifted it above her head and plunged it towards Poe's broken body.

In the split second you had opened your mouth to scream, Kylo's hand was already outstretched.

The blue glow of the saber was not dulled by Poe's flesh, instead, it was buried deeply into Rey's heaving chest.