Bonded in the Silence: A Reylo Fanfiction

Chapter 19: Underground

"We've arrived" Hux said with relief and pointed past her.

She turned slowly to look in the direction of his hand, shading her eyes whilst turning in to the glare of the sun that was beginning to lower in the sky.

A shining, silver dome was protruding a few feet above the sand, damage apparent on all edges of it. She'd been so preoccupied with the debris in the near collision that she'd missed what lay past it. Approaching it cautiously, Rey squatted down at the edge, noticing how the sand had worn away its finish. Reaching out with a bare hand, she was surprised by the coldness of the steel in the heat of the sun on Jakku; it was completely unaffected by the heat. The peculiar alloy was not typical for travelling spacecraft, and instead seemed to lean toward heavy structural integrity only.

This is the exterior of a ship...?

A few paces to her right, she noticed fine lines in the dome that appeared to be small hatches to the inside. Running her fingers along each one, it was easy to see where the sand filled the creases and signalled that much remained untouched, save for one. One round hatch was clear of the grit, and even left just slightly ajar. 

Hux stood by silently, expressionless as she made her discovery.

"Something may have gotten in" she said out loud.

Or...something got out? A worried voice in her mind added.

Her fingers squeezed under the edge of it, and when it wouldn't budge she thrust her whole arm under to leverage opening it further. Using two hands now, it creaked audibly as she pushed it all the way open.

At first glance it was nearly black at the entrance, but after her eyes began to adjust, a dim string of lights could be seen that followed deep down and curved out of sight. The longer she stared the more she could sense the pull emanating from the shaft; it piqued her curiousity, but frightened her deeply. It prompted her memory of the chasm on Ahch-To where she'd descended down into the water beneath the island and encountered the mirror.

I should have felt trapped or panicked.

"It's not fair for you to have gone on for this long without knowing" Hux said, almost with understanding, "and the only way to complete your training is to face your past."

But I didn't.

Rey resisted looking up to him from her knees, holding her breath as anxiety swirled in her gut.

"What will I find down there?" she asked.

"The truth you've been waiting for, my dear."

Rey stood from the ground and dropped one leg into the hatch, and perched forward on the edge as she dangled the second leg in after it.

Taking one last look at Hux, who nodded in affirmation, she slid out of sight, into the darkness.

*

It was an endless tumble as Rey slid through the tubular shaft the hatch had been connected to. Several times she attempted to grasp at the sides with clawed fingers in an effort to slow her down, but there was nothing tangible to cling to on her journey down.

There came a point where her momentum finally slowed, and eventually her body weight couldn't be carried by gravity any longer, slowing to a halt in the dim tunnel. 

Pulling her heels back underneath her, she hunched over in the low shaft while bracing the walls. She didn't know whether she should continue on or try to find to find an egress for this shaft.