Theodosia

Chapter 19

"What did you do?"

Theo glanced behind her, seeing a glowering Kylo Ren walking towards her. "Hello to you too," she responded.

"The scavenger. She escaped," he grit out.

"Then shouldn't you be finding her instead of me?" she asked.

"Theo, now is not the time for this. Did you help her?" he asked, his already very little patience wavering.

"Why do you always have to sound so accusing?" she asked, offended even though he was right.

"Because I know you helped the pilot," he said angrily. She paused, folding her arms across his chest. To tell or not to tell, she wondered. If he had known all along that she had helped Poe and Finn escape and had not told anyone, maybe she could trust him.

"I didn't help her escape," she answered measuredly. "I merely changed the odds of her escaping-"

"Damn it, Theo!" he groaned. "The Supreme Leader wants her, and now she's gone!"

"What does he want her for?" she asked.

"She's a Force user like us," he said, running a hand through his hair before placing on his mask with a sigh. He looked at her through the visor and pointed a gloved finger, saying sternly, "We're going to find her."

And with that, she was swept away to join a search party of the person she helped escape. As Kylo sent out orders to different groups of Stormtroopers, she regarded him quietly, seeing how tense he was. How preoccupied he was with the girl.

The alarms in one of the hangars triggered, and he immediately sent a troop to investigate the area. Turning to the rest, he assigned an area to each of them.

When about three units of Stormtroopers were sent around the base to search for the girl, they were left alone for a while. He never spoke a word, but she could feel his emotions stirring.

"You need to calm down, Ren," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep him from pacing.

"The Supreme Leader expects me to bring her to him. I can't afford to lose her."

"But you know what he has planned for her isn't anything pleasant," she said knowingly. "It's best she escapes."

"And what of us?" He asked. Surprised, she asked further.

"What of us?"

He couldn't possibly be talking about their relationship surely.

"Snoke senses my doubts. I need to prove myself to him. And you do too," he said, subsequently crossing out her suspicions about what he meant.

"Oh."

She couldn't help the disappointment. "We don't have to prove anything," she shrugged. "We don't need to at all, really."

"I need to complete my training," he said, but he didn't sound too sure. "The sooner, the better, because I can't-" he stopped with a frustrated sigh.

"Can't what, Ren?" she asked.

"The light," he said so softly that through his mask, it came out as an incoherent sound to Theo.

She didn't catch what he said, but she reached out to him with a soft sigh. "Why do I get the feeling you're just as conflicted as I am?"

Footsteps neared them, and they broke apart, stepping away from each other. "Sir, she was not found in hangar 718 but all troops are on alert."

"Put every hangar on lock down," Kylo said robotically as if he had not had a conversation with Theo. "She's going to try to steal a ship to-" he stopped.