Star Wars IX- Balance Of The Force

Chapter 7 - For Her, All for Her

The conflict on Fondor could hardly be called a conflict at all. It was merely a small band of the local industrial workers who were supported by the Resistance; there had been no real battle; it had just been a standoff. They'd dug their trenches and stopped providing the First Order with supplies - that was it. They were machine operators, technicians, and mechanics; they were just about able to shoot a blaster, but not well. They had only had the most basic of training. It was a joke to have called this a conflict. Kylo and his knights had dispatched with the forces positioned there effortlessly. It hadn't even really been a test of the simplest of their talents. Why in the stars had General Hux ever deemed this an issue? Kylo knew it was because they were supplying the Resistance instead of the First Order. A matter of costs had been mentioned he dimly remembered. If possible, Kylo felt even angrier now, having slaughtered all these people than he had with Hux in the hangar before leaving. The object of his anger became Hux rather than this pitiful excuse for a fight. It could've been dealt with via simple negotiation. In his unbalanced agitated state, he'd lost himself in a haze of red rage and been the leading force in a massacre, another one to add to the list in his history with the First Order. How much did another one matter?

Kylo stood in front of his knights, the rain hammering down upon his cowl and a sea of bodies surrounding them; everyone was dead. He seethed, allowing all his anger to boil, his blood feeling like fire in his skin. Steam almost seemed to rise from his soaked body; he was so enraged. In front of him, someone was still alive and was attempting to crawl forward, no doubt trying to flee. This wretched, pitiable man wasn't even worth his time. None of this had been worth his time. He should allow this last survivor to die slowly in the mud. Kylo felt disturbed by everything that had happened since arriving on this planet. Since the dream, he felt jaded by this man's pointless attempts to stand up. He looked up, and what he saw surprised him; a figure was approaching slowly.

No, he thought to himself. How had he not felt her presence? That unmistakable pull and that glow in the Force around her he could always feel distantly was now brilliantly radiant right in front of him. Had he been so distracted, so unbalanced, he hadn't even noticed her merely meters from him? He felt his emotions instantly change in her closeness, the boiling reducing to a simmer. Why did she always put herself in these situations- the danger of coming to him alone? It couldn't be a coincidence that the one time he'd left the ship in months, they were now on the same planet.

The man in front of him had managed to scramble to his feet and was reaching out to her. Kylo felt a surge of covetous resentment; he spun his lightsaber within his hand and thrust it forward, plunging it through the man's back. A wet slump followed the man's howl of pain as he fell lifeless to the muddy floor where she stood. One more death was nothing.

Unfazed, she threw back her hood, meeting his stare head-on, the rain drenching her already wet hair onto her head and shoulders. Her face was held firm despite the rain, despite the scene of death. He wasn't sure what she was feeling; with her, he never was. He took several determined steps towards her, but she didn't move other than to raise her chin slightly. Behind him, Kylo could feel his Knights responding to her presence. They must have noticed a change in the Force around them. He could sense their thoughts, preparation, and desire for a real challenge. He raised one gloved hand and froze them all. He could feel their surprise, but at least for the moment, they would be unable to do anything.

He looked at her; he could see a lightsaber attached to her belt. Impressive, since he'd last seen her, she'd constructed her own. Constructing one's own saber was a necessary right of passage. She must've acquired a new crystal, Kylo pondered to himself as he recalled that the last crystal had shattered in an explosion of light on board the Supremacy. She had not reached for the saber, nor could he sense anything from her to suggest she would. From the moment he had met her on Takodana, she was a mystery to him. He'd seen inside her mind, and they were so similar, both so alone, but he could not comprehend her. Her actions were based on something he told himself he'd long left behind: compassion and attachment -weakness. He'd been wrong, of course. Snoke had known it the moment he'd killed his father; those weaknesses were part of him, too. Kylo had then used his attachment to her against Snoke when he'd deceived and betrayed his master and killed him. Kylo had killed Snoke for himself, an end to the criticism and punishment, to take control for himself but also for her; he could not allow her to die. He'd wanted her and needed her to join him. She hadn't, though, and now she stood there in front of him, appearing calm.