(Edited 04/04/2021)
Her hands were shaking... No, Rey thought, her entire body was shaking as she struggled to not scream from rage. The last thing she wanted to do was alarm the base, but she genuinely could not believe what had happened only moments ago.
Rey shook her head, wetting her face from the faucet in her washroom and attempted to cool herself down. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she noticed the necklace she was wearing was no longer there.
She turned quickly, looking around the room from the bed to her floor, but it was nowhere to be found. She considered the possibility that Kylo could have taken it, having noticed his eyes on it a few times...
Her sudden rush of anger returned, causing her to forget the necklace all together.
Rey cursed herself out loud. How could she be so stupid, letting her defenses down! Letting him get close to her? Foolish! She continued to punish herself for it all, teeth hurting from the tight clench she had to do in order to cease her madness.
How could she possibly have the courage to being training new recruits tomorrow, if she so easily could be mind tricked by...him.
Rey couldn't bare to think his name right now, not without seething.
"Stars... It felt so real." Rey muttered to herself as she sat on the edge of her bed, feeling extremely defeated as she recalled every word and motion that led up to her realization of his games.
It was difficult to not be angry with herself. He was still her enemy, Rey thought. At the end of the day, that's always what he would be while he chose the dark side... So, why was it that she still felt such compassion towards him?
Rey could have sworn those feelings were long gone the day he chose to continue his attack on Crait, yet still, they kept returning.
Her mind was quick to recall those moments with crystal clear detail; The day she fought for him on Snoke's ship, the way she still begged him to join her on the Falcon even after his attack, the nightmare she saved him from, and today, only moments ago when the bond connected him here...
She fooled herself into thinking that it would be easy to forget what happened... at least for now... But she simply couldn't.
In that moment, she had thought of kissing him...And it nearly happened. But, why? Rey demanded of herself.
He had scolded her for not believing in herself, for thinking herself too weak to complete something that she already had – the exchange of light and dark force. Why was it that he believed in her in such a fierce way? Rey hated the way it made her instantly feel, as though she could believe him, as if she, too, had it in her to be something greater.
Rey's chin trembled, and it was only then that she realized she was about to cry from the anger and confusion that she was sorting through.
Had any of it been real to him? Did he feel any compassion towards her, or was it all for another game of power and deceit? She loathed the constant questioning, absolutely hated the fact that she was so easily manipulated, despised the way she admired him in that moment they shared together...
The force began circling her with intense rhythm, pulling and shoving Rey, confused by everything she was feeling, good and bad. Her blood was beginning to boil as she blinked the oncoming tears away. Reaching up, she began to rub the back of her neck to relieve tension.
It didn't work.
Sighing heavily, Rey stood from her bed and hiked her dress up to her waist, moving to sit cross legged on the floor. Rey decided meditation may help, and if not, at least she could lay on the cold, hard ground to cool her off.
Closing her eyes, Rey cleared her mind until she was able to focus on the grey. It was a place neither light or dark existed, the place where she found comfort and balance. She could feel the force take over, guiding her being as she and that power calmed, making her as light as a feather and as steady as a stream.
'Yes' she thought. 'This is peace.'.
Throughout the force she felt the colors of life spring to action, the beautifully aching hum of decay surrounding it.
She focused only on the colors, on life itself.
The dark greens of trees, and their browning stumps.
The orange and pink flowers that bloomed beneath the suns gaze.
The blue and white of the surrounding sky.
And the red... The red...
Red.
The color itself brought a flurry of visions to Rey's mind; Red salt from Crait, the roses from the reception hall... and a red lightsaber clashing against her own, and behind those weapons, Snoke's throne room.
The sudden rush of it all made Rey inhale deeply, trying to steady her breathing as she allowed the force to show her the vision. She was so close to thinking it was a nightmare, similar to Kylo's, but something stood out.
In the middle of it all stood a boy with innocent hazel eyes, shaggy black hair and pink cheeks. He turned to look directly up at Rey, his eyes widening.
He did not look at Rey as if she was a stranger, but a friend.
This boy trusted her.
Instinctively, Rey's guard went up, and she found that she was unable to leave this vision, trapped between time and space where only the force thrived – Though this side of the force was new to her.
Immediately, she moved to protect the boy, to shield him from whatever this energy was. As if it knew the power she held and the lengths she would go to defend the child, the darkness withdrew the red memories, taking away with it the constant reminders of the war she had known.
Now, Rey and the boy stood together in the middle of the forest she trained at, but the clear and bright skies were replaced with a dark grey one, the wind thrashing every tree around, breaking branches that held on for dear life.
In the distance, she could see an oncoming bout of tall waves, no doubt that a single one of those would be able to take out the base that the Resistance resided at.
Panic shot through Rey's veins, and she turned to the child, her instincts kicking in, telling her to grab him and warn the base, if she even had enough time to do that.
However, when she turned to him, she was shocked to see that the boy was not frightened in the slightest, but instead looked at her knowingly, as if he knew she would keep him safe no matter what.
His ease and calmness soothed her, and though she was still eager to get to safety, she no longer felt the anxiety. Looking at him now, Rey guessed he must have been about seven or eight years old. He offered a shy smile, and the corner of her own mouth began to lift, as if deep down she knew who this was, even with her mind not recognizing.
When she was about to ask his name, the boy said: "You will be the one to turn. You'll stand with me... Rey, I saw who your parents are."
Rey's smile slowly vanished, and her own eyes widened with horror as she realized that these were the words Ben Solo spoke to her before in the elevator on Snoke's ship.
Her heartbeat quickened, and she internally begged the force to let her out of this vision, or nightmare, she couldn't determine anymore.
"You'll save me from this place, Rey," He said with such a genuine, soft smile that Rey nearly teared up. "You will."
By now, her chest was heaving as she struggled to breathe correctly, her body in shock and mind at a loss within the darkness that had taken control.
'Save him, save him, save him!' she chanted to herself. Glancing to the view behind the boy, she watched as the waves rolled in and over them, towering over the pair as it moved with swift purpose to claim their souls to the sea.
Rey's arms shot out and grabbed him, clutching him to her chest as she shut her eyes tight and prayed the force, her silent please turning demanding. And just then, the force finally answered, and let her free.
Gasping, Rey broke away from the trance and quickly opened her eyes to see that the books, tools, her shoes and other little belongings in her room were levitating in the air. As she registered her shock, everything fell to the ground, the noise of it all ricocheting off of her walls.
Her body shook, her mind reeling as she tried to make sense of it all, tried to clear the memory of the boy's face and his words...
A loud and sudden knock at her door made Rey jump to her feet and soothe out the messiness she had created of her outfit, heartbeat still racing.
A small trickle at her temple told Rey that she had begun to sweat, and she silently cursed at herself.
Without waiting to be greeted, BB-8 called to her from the other side of the door, letting Rey know that Rose is asking for her.
"Uh...y-yes, I'll be right there!" Rey stammered. She heard a whirl down the hall, and knew the droid had already scurried off.
Rey inhaled as deep as she could, and let out the breath slowly as she made her way to the restroom.
Checking the mirror to make sure her hair was in place and her face left no trace of worry or sweat, she froze for the quickest moment.
She could have sworn her eyes looked ... yellow...even for a second...Rey shook her head, knowing that it was impossible, and decided to splash her face with water in hopes of waking herself up.
With a heavy sigh, Rey stood tall, telling herself that now was not to question the force, and instead chose to focus on her friend's event, though it did not stop her from thinking of the boy, or his smile, on her walk there, stopping only once when a question came to mind.
Was she capable of saving him?
( x )
Back on his ship, Kylo Ren sat silently in the pilot's seat, still thinking of his recent force bond with Rey. He had tried to banish those thoughts several times, but in the silence of his ship, he found his mind constantly returning to the memory.
One thing was certain, he decided. It had not been his intention to let things go so far with her, but there was too much at risk to not take the opportunity.
If she succeeded in discovering the kyber crystal, and repaired her saber, it would only be a certain amount of time before they met on the battlefield again.
She would never knowingly attack him without it, and he'd never allow it anyway. It simply wouldn't be a fair fight, and he could not have that, Kylo told himself.
What he struggled with now though, was even if she did come with or without her saber, with intent to kill him, could he finish the job and cut her down first?
The instinctual answer was yes, yes, he would...
But when he sat as he did now in the midst of silence and confusion, when he thought about it and mentally played it out, he couldn't see himself being successful.
Not because he didn't have the power to, but because he did not have the will to.
This fact alone drove him mad.
He glared out into the dark space that surrounded him as his mind replayed the last moment he shared with his father. Kylo thought that would be his challenge, to murder his greatest weakness, to destroy the love he carried still, to numb himself of the life he had before, and with doing so, become something great. If he killed Rey, would he feel great? Was she a weakness to him? Killing his father made him feel... Kylo shut his eyes before he was able to admit it...
It only destroyed him more, filling him with regret and sorrow. Even in his moment of death, his father still held love in his eyes.
Kylo gulped, stopping the memory as it came. He wondered if in the end, if he had ever chosen Rey, would his father's death have been for nothing?
He would not dwell on this, Kylo decide, with aid from the dark grip on his mind. 'What's done is done. It cannot be taken back. '
Shifting in his seat, Kylo straightened as he inhaled, but instantly froze half way through.
Aside from the dark force that resided in his mind, he felt a sudden pressure within his senses, different from the usual energy that the force brought on.
Something... No, someone, was shuffling through his mind, probing his memories but only taking bits of it; His lightsaber, the throne room, his recurring nightmare filled with blood, the salt on Crait...
Kylo saw only flashes of these memories, but he felt an unfamiliar forest surround him, the harsh wind blowing his hair back as the dream took him away from his ship.
Debris flew around, making Kylo squint and it became harder for him to see anything as he was soon fully immersed into this nightmare... or vision... He couldn't tell at this point.
On high alert, Kylo's hand shot to his lightsaber that rested on his hip, pulling it out and igniting the sword in one swift motion.
He turned, slow and deliberate as he took in his surroundings of the empty, windy forest. There was no one here, and when he reached out with the force, he felt the lifeline completely silent.
In a distant whisper though, Kylo was able to hear, "You will be the one to turn. You'll stand with me... Rey, I saw who your parents are."
His breathing fastened. It was his words, but not his voice. Something similar...something...familiar reached out to him through this hallucination.
"You'll save me from this place, Rey...You'll save me..." the voice whispered again.
At the mention of her name, Kylo felt Rey's presence briefly before it disappeared just as quickly.
Turning around, he stilled as he found a youngling gazing up at him, her hair dark brown and her eyes cautious but curious. Kylo glanced around her, unable to see anything through the approaching storm from the distant sea.
The girl stepped closer to him, unafraid of the saber he held out toward her.
"I saw your future...Just the shape of it, but solid, and clear! You'll turn..." she said, her voice so hopeful and knowing.
Kylo gulped and took a step back, unbelieving of what he was hearing. It was the exact same thing the scavenger had told him before he defeated Snoke, when they were alone in the elevator.
The youngling smiled, placing a small hand on top of his large one that held his ignited saber. "I'll help you." She said with a kind smile.
The gesture nearly frightened him, still unsure of this vision. He clawed at all his sensed, used all of his energy to command the force to yield from this trance, but failed.
Kylo glanced down at the touch. It was warm, and calming, just as Rey's mind could be... Rey...
As if her name a spell itself, the storm around them receded, the wind stopping almost immediately as it rolled out and was replaced by an orange sunset behind the rain that had turned to a soft drizzle.
The air was clean, trees and flowers springing to life around them. This is not anything he had ever envisioned. This was Rey, and this is what she always seemed to project; Light, life, and growth.
But still... This was a vision, he reminded himself. This was not the real Rey...
He moved to meet the young one's gaze, and the hand she had over his formed into a tight grip, as if she could read his mind in that moment.
Kylo attempted to pull his hand away, but was surprised at the hold she had on him, given the fact that she was a child. His heart froze and blood stilled.
He watched as her kind features twisted into something menacing, purple circles forming around her now yellow eyes, her mouth losing the friendly smile and now replaced with a disgustingly mean snarl.
"I'll help you!" She screamed, desperate, mean and powerful.
Kylo used all of his might and power, channeling the force to push her off of him in an instant and watched as she flew black. She hissed at him, and in the blink of his eye, he was back on his ship, alone and sweating as the dream-like vision faded away into nothing.
His heartbeat finally returned, having been numb to the freeze in the first place, but it now hammered away intently in his chest.
His physical state was the least of his concern though, even as he struggled to breathe through his heaving chest.
Unsettled still, his grip remained on his weapon.
The vision, whatever the dark side of the force had trapped Kylo in, showed him the side of Rey that could be an avid user of the dark side, and it took over her completely. But, he acknowledged, this version of her was still only a child, yet so remarkably powerful for a youngling.
What would she become now, if she embraced that side of the force at her age and state?
He cursed out loud, finally powering off his saber and stashing it back at his hip, quickly taking a glove off of his hand and wiped his forehead from the sweat that clung there.
It took him a moment to calm the nerves that were going haywire within his body, taking a second to pace his ship, ensuring that the force had soothed itself back in line around him.
Kylo looked towards the right of his console, where the necklace he had taken from Rey lay.
He wasn't sure what any of this meant, but he knew that the decision to either hide the crystal or to give it back would help determine Rey's move to the light or dark, and it would assist in pushing her deeper into whatever she chose.
Though questions and reason still remained unanswered, there was something extremely evident to Kylo now.
The dark side resided in her. He had known it was planted there, but now, knew it was rooted deep. Without control, or balance, untamed power could do more harm to not only the galaxy, but to her as well.
At that, Kylo knew what he had to do.
( x ) End of Chapter ( x )
Author's Notes:
Edited 04/04/2021
Hope you are all liking the edits so far! Added 1.4k words, changed the details of their visions a bit more.
For any new readers, I know a lot of people do not exactly like the whole "Rey turning to the dark side" story line, and I want to assure you all that this is not what that is. Just stay tuned and keep reading, I assure you this is a bit different.
Anyways, if you have any thoughts or love to share, get at me 😀 Thanks for reading!