"It's time." Kylo Ren quietly said. I looked up at him for only a few more seconds before turning back towards the unknown world in which my stolen powers lay.
We took our first steps down the ramp and entered the war.
_____
'War' would not be the proper label for what we walked into.
Kylo Ren and I descended, side by side, down the massive ramp from the ship. I hesitated for just a second before setting my foot cautiously onto the hard, dark brown, dirt ground. The ground was firm and a cloud of dust flew into the air when I stepped on it.
I looked up at Kylo Ren expectantly, waiting for an order of some sort; however, he was merely surveying the strange scene.
The sound of the stormtrooper's feet on the hard ground was quickly diminishing. There was no sound of gunfire and no hint of any fight whatsoever. The enemy army was absent and nowhere to be found. The stormtroopers stood in formation silently, awaiting the battle that simply refused to come.
All was silent. I curiously looked over The First Order's soldiers in wonder, and Kylo Ren voiced exactly what I was thinking.
"This is not right." He muttered. I nodded without looking up at him. Several eerie, suspenseful moments passed.
Pew!
My head whipped towards the sound of the gunfire, which came from the top of one of the massive piles of brown rock. There was no warrior to go with the shot fired, which made no sense at all.
"Who shot that?" I whispered fearfully.
My heart was pounding. This was my first-ever battle, and things were not looking too good for our side of it. Anonymous shootings? Dead silence? No opposing army?
I know that no conflict is better than a thriving war, but to have no conflict in this type of situation was ominous and flat out creepy.
"I don't know." Kylo Ren slowly answered my question. I could sense a bit of unease in his voice.
Pew! Pew!
"More shots." I commented alertly, not bothering to try and locate where the bullets originated from. The shots were two direct hits, and just like that, two stormtroopers were dead.
The First Order's entire army that had been brought was now restless; they stood in shaky formation, but were all searching the skies and mountains for any sight of the shooters. It was no longer silent. The sounds of worried chatter, the readying of weapons, and armored stormtrooper feet dashing around filled my ears.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
More dead troops. I finally looked up at Kylo Ren and exclaimed, "Are you going to do something?!"
Kylo Ren did not reply. He was intensely focused in some spot in the horizon.
"Kylo Ren!" I urged him to think of a plan or to come up with some course of action. The stormtroopers needed direction, and so did I. Kylo Ren was the director, and he was neglecting to respond to me.
I knew how desperate I must have looked, but I didn't care. The situation was too serious for Kylo Ren to be blocking us out for some Force-meditation, or whatever he was doing!
"Kylo Ren!" I cried out one more time, begging for some sort of answer. He, again, ignored my call for help.
Finally, after a long period of silence, he muttered, "Camouflage."
"What?" I asked in confusion, raising an eyebrow in frustration. Then, his seemingly-arbitrary mumbling made complete sense.
I slowly looked out into the rocky valley at the infinite stormtroopers that were placed in the middle of a trench surrounded by enemy snipers that were all camouflaged into the dark rock. I was utterly horrified.
The enemy organization had shooters camouflaged into the dark rock perched all around The First Order's army.
How will we ever fight back if we don't have a clear visual on where they are?
I stared with wide eyes out at the vast amount of stormtroopers that were completely unprotected from the hidden attackers.
"What are we going to do?" I whispered frantically, glancing up at Kylo Ren and then back down at the troops.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
More stormtroopers down.
"Retrieving the power box is the top priority, not defeating the enemy. We must notify the generals and go." He quickly, quietly stated. It was as if he was thinking out loud.
"We have to hurry. Soon there will be too many of us down, or they will unleash their actual army on us while we are distracted, or something worse." Kylo Ren turned to me and added, "Nira, we have to go now."
As soon as the word 'now' left Kylo Ren's mouth, everything changed.
The several heaping piles of brown rocks began to shift, almost as if they were . . . Alive.
I watched as the mountains of brown rock transformed into thousands of enemy soldiers. The stormtroopers began shooting as soon as the enemy was recognized, but the camouflaged soldiers had came prepared.
The scene quickly escalated into a fully-fledged war, complete with explosions, incoming warriors from either side, and brutal fighting.
Kylo Ren wordlessly grabbed my wrist and darted towards the left side of the battle. We skirted through and around the edges, attempting not to get accidentally shot or engage in any conflict of our own.
I didn't know whether to keep my eyes trained on the back of Kylo Ren's helmet or to glance around at the ongoing violence all around me. If I kept my eyes away from the fight I could potentially get hurt due to inadequate self-protection and awareness, but every time I looked away from the back of Kylo Ren's black helmet my eyes immediately discovered a new, gruesome, horrifying battle scene that was permanently stamped into my mind as soon as I saw it.
I decided that I would rather be permanently scarred by the horrific scenes than dead because I would've preferred not to look at them.
Kylo Ren kept a tight grip on my wrist as we maneuvered through the battlefield, and I was so grateful that I had him. I would not have been able to manage weaving through the war alone.
Finally, Kylo Ren yanked me behind an actual rock (not a pile of hidden snipers, thankfully), and stopped running. I bent down and put my hands on my knees, gasping for breath.
My head was pounding. I felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen.
"Stand up, Nira!" Kylo Ren sharply commanded. I did so, and Kylo Ren began to speak.
"I have a few concerns. I don't know if the oxygen is safe -- "
I shut my mouth in the middle of a gasp for breath, terrified at the prospect of dying due to unsafe air.
"I doubt it will kill you, but it is a thought to keep in mind. I just wanted to do one thing!" He shouted over all of the commotion and sounds of war.
Kylo Ren quickly pulled off his helmet and ruffled his hair. I raised an eyebrow in confusion and continued to take short, labored breaths.
He leaned forward, placed one hand on the bottom of my back and braided the other hand's fingers throughout the hair on the back of my head, and pulled my close. He pressed my lips to mine intensely.
I was so confused, but so relieved. It was purely refreshing to be able to kiss him. It was amazing to feel love through all of the ongoing madness. I wanted to kiss him forever and forget about the war.
But alas.
Kylo Ren pulled his lips off of mine, but did not take his hands away from my body just yet. He maintained a frantic, deep, loving eye contact for several seconds before explaining his actions.
"I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to do that again." He stated breathlessly. I nodded and realized the urgency to do normal, everyday things for the (possibly) last time. I didn't want to die in this insane war without doing a few things one last time.
I took a short instant to admire his facial features -- his full, rosy lips, his long eyelashes, his warm, brown eyes, his luscious, dark hair, his fitting nose, his sharp jawline, and his thick eyebrows. Everything about him was perfect, and if I was to get killed, I wanted to be able to remember exactly what Kylo Ren looks like in my dying moments.
Kylo Ren haphazardly shoved his helmet back on his head, resumed his tight grip on my wrist, and ran out from behind the rock. He continued the advancement through the war.
We were nearing the base, but I couldn't help wondering if we were going to make it or not.
We have to make it, I thought; immediately after this thought, a laser bullet whizzed past my ear, destroying my courage.
It took me a moment to regain confidence and determination. Finally I thought, We just have to make it. There's not way we aren't going to.
I continued to follow Kylo Ren through the vicious frenzy, almost unable to contain my fear.
We finally, breathlessly, reached the front of the black mountainous base.
I slowly realized a petrifying fact about the base, and got the nerve to voice it to Kylo Ren.
I forced out in a yell, "Kylo Ren, there's no door!"
_____
Author's Note
Cliffhanger (???)
Tomorrow I leave for Florida (spring break!) and I'm gonna try to write a ton on the plane, but since my laptop has a crappy battery I don't know how much I'll be able to get out.
I have to keep up with my running in Florida. I kinda just want to sleep in but also I love working out, I am a work out freak!!
Alright, see you buddies later :)
P.S. That is what I decided to call you; my buddies! A.k.a my buds, the buds, you buddies, buds, etc, etc.