(Songs: bury a friend - Billie Eilish)
The hall felt hot and cold. It's uncomfortable. It's unsettling. The hairs on the back of Mae's neck stand straight up.
"I felt you here. Your presence. It's different than before. You're colder." His voice was low, vibration through the mask. Mae didn't say a thing. She couldn't form the words in her mouth. Kylo stepped forward. "Surrender and the Supreme Leader will spare your life."
Mae couldn't help but feel sadness and pity for Ben. Even though no one told her directly, and she didn't want to believe it herself, she always knew it was him.
"Hello, Ben." She whispers. His head tilts.
"That's not my name." He snaps.
Mae's voice returns to her and she points to his face, the mask."That is not you. Kylo is not your name."
"I think it suits me." He growls. Mae pulls back her arm like he just tried to bite it.
"I don't understand why you are doing this. Come b-"
"Where is he?" Kylo cut her off.
Mae glared. "Who?"
"Skywalker."
Mae looked at him, confused. "You didn't- You can't find him either." Mae was almost relieved.
"He deserted you, Mae, just like how he deserted everyone. Tell me where he is."
Mae took a step back as she shook her head side to side.
Kylo clicked his tongue. "Hm. Did she send you here on this mission? No, she wouldn't. You're their precious little secret, never doing anything wrong. She would hide you. Unless they're becoming... hopeless."
Mae's eyes turned cold. "Stop. I know what you're trying to do." He was conflicted and manipulated and that's what he was trying to make her feel like too.
Kylo continued on his rant. "Do you feel like a disappointment? Like you failed? I thought it was convenient you left when you did. Did you already know what was going to happen?"
"I didn't know. I-I had to leave. I couldn't be there then, but I was going to come back."
"No, you weren't. You gave up trying to be a Jedi. Did you also realize the Jedi are weak? You were always so quick little cousin, you knew Skywalker lied. He was never going to let me reach my full potential," Kylo spit out from under the mask.
His anger rose at just the thought of Luke and the temple. He was a teenager that never felt like he belonged, so he grew up to burn it all down to feel its warmth.
Mae tried to stay calm, but it was getting harder and harder. "You would've reached your potential without the help of a Sith. The dark side has corrupted your mind, Ben."
"No! No! You still believe your old man? After everything? He's lied to us, You've always been a shadow, an escapist, a weak little girl that can't even take on your family name. You don't deserve it."
The body temperature in Mae started to go cold. She snapped.
"Take off the mask, Kylo Ren. I want to make sure you hear everything properly." She had never been so mad at anyone before. He lifts off the mask. His face looked older, there are bags under his eyes. Bags that match hers. She looked into his eyes, the visible light that had once been in his eyes was gone. He glares back. And the mask falls to the ground.
"You're merely a pawn in Snoke's game. You have been given a false illusion of power, and have been manipulated just as our grandfather was. Do you not remember what happened to him? It's called a tragedy for a reason." She hissed.
"I'm becoming more powerful than Lord Vader. I will reach the potential he never could reach." Mae couldn't believe Kylo had the ignorance to say that. She just shook her head looking at the ground.
"You are nowhere in comparison. Papa Vader would be insulted." She spits venom, but it hurts her just as much as it's meant to hurt him.
"I'm giving you one last chance to make a choice cousin, you come with me and reach our potential together. Or you can die with the rebel scum." Mae looked into his eyes. A trace of begging was in them. He was so lonely and she knew it. Their relationship was broken. Joining him would not fix it.
"I'm sorry." She turns to find another way to the hangar. Then she hears it. He ignited his lightsaber. The sound is different than any she's ever heard before. "Just let me go." She whispers in shock, as she turns her face slightly over her shoulder to look. The lightsaber is Sith red. He obviously messed up while bleeding his crystal because two short blades fly out on either side. This mistake makes it look even more sinister, maybe it wasn't a mistake.
"You know I can't do that." He says.
The air in the hall was hot. Anger between the cousins filled the room. Mae's own cousin, a person she once loved like a brother was now threatening her life. Her mind goes to the journal of Master Kenobi, who wrote about fighting his brother. Kylo wanted a fight, the part of him was stuck in the past desperate to burn down everything. The part of him that thought power would fix him. Mae was a part of Ben's old self and his past. Kylo had to destroy it. He had to kill Mae.
Mae pauses to think about her next move. The longer the team were here, the longer their lives and the Resistance would be in danger. Only she could possibly survive the torture they would receive here. Her blood boiled that thought of kneeling to Snoke, becoming his apprentice to abuse. Snoke. Her hand made a fist in anger.
She took a deep breath and turned her head to face him. She would say something so wrong, something that would set him off. Make him irrational, emotional, stupid. A high ground. Her pained expression changes from pained and broken-hearted to a small smirk.
"Remember as kids, we would bicker over the lightsaber?" She clicks her tongue. "It's obvious who is more worthy of it now, right Prince Solo?"
She didn't mean those words, but he was so filled with rage it wouldn't matter. She always knew Ben craved attention from his family. From Luke, Anakin, Leia and Han. As a child, he got attention from people that didn't matter. He was the famous Organa-Solo son and nephew of Luke Skywalker, but his last name was not Skywalker.
Kylo goes livid. The anger he feels is intoxicating to him. He has no control of his own body. Rage is the only thing in his mind. He charges at her. Swinging his sabre. Her eyes widen and she dodges the blow. He swings again and again, but Mae is light on her feet from Ahsoka's training. It's getting too close for comfort and Mae ignites her green sabre to defend herself as it crashes with his. She blocks and deflects every hard swing. Mae notices how tall Kylo is and how much bigger he is compared to her, yet to his knowledge, she is still the little weak Jedi from the temple.
"Liar! Grandfather has shown me the full power of the dark side." Ben uses his body to push against her lightsaber.
Mae redirects his weight and moves to the side, he falls towards the floor but he does Mae throws a fist to his face. He falls the other way onto his backside. Blood drips from his broken nose, as he pushes himself up.
"No, he hasn't." Mae snarls, her anger out of control and she kicks him in the chest. He rolls across the floor onto his stomach.
"You've been training." Says Kylo as he pushes his chest off the ground.
She walks by him, swinging her lightsaber. "Proud?" Mae glares. The adrenaline running through her system was slowly fading away.
Kylo gets back on his feet fast, and they immediately swing at each other again. Their fight can be heard throughout the halls. Sparks fly when the lightsabers hit the metal walls. She takes the opportunity to slide through his legs as rolls to a combat stance. She needed some distance and knew that this fight was going to take every bit out of her to survive without killing him if that was possible. She was already tired from the Stormtroopers. Kylo turns to her and looks at her stance. He adjusts his footing and reverses his grip. Mae had learned the old styles from Ahsoka. Mae liked Form 3, she would stay defensive until the right time to attack. She liked fighting smarter not harder because of her smaller stature, but Mae combined the forms and made them into her own. Her own style was perfect for her. She brings her lightsaber to her chest, close to her body as she lowers her stance.
"You found a new Master. Who?" Kylo growls noticing her change in stance.
"Where's your technique? Lost it?" She didn't even think, it just rolled off her tongue. It was true. His fighting style had changed to something more uncontrolled and angry. Fitting. He grips his lightsaber so hard she thinks it might break. "The way you're fighting..." She clicks her tongue. "It's a good thing you haven't found my father yet. You wouldn't stand a chance."
Kylo swings down hard on her sabre. Using so much raw anger and physical power. He's trying to overpower her and it's working. She's pushed back with the strength of it. This is getting tiring for Mae.
"You think you can actually kill me? You'll have to give in to the darkness." Kylo says as he pushes her down. "Look at the pain and death you have caused on this post in mere minutes. You're like me. You are no benevolent Jedi. You're tainted, not a delicate little flower anymore." He says in a mocking tone.
It's draining her energy, trying to not kill her cousin, to stay on the light side. Mae has had a hard time following her old teachings. A good Jedi would never give in to their darkness. A good Jedi would never give up. It was like being on the edge of a cliff. One slip and you fall into the dark side. Ben had fallen, and Mae was dangling off the ledge. Would it be easier to just let go? She hesitates.
Mae is taken off guard as Kylo almost sliced her stomach, he force pushes the lightsaber out of her hands. She is left defenceless. He winds up to take the final blow but she force pushes him back so hard he hits the wall behind him. He hits it with a large thud. Mae falls the opposite way, rolling into her stomach. She pushes her herself up to her knees as Stormtroopers start running in guns raised at Mae. She doesn't move an inch. The Stormtroopers, wait for kill orders. Mae looks at Kylo as he rises again. "I could but only monsters kill their own family."
Kylo gives a signal to the small group of troopers flooding into the room to leave. They shuffle out. He picks up and ignites his lightsaber again. "I will finish what grandfather started."
Mae calls on hers and flies into her hands. She calms her raging mind, as they stare each other down. Mae's ready to ignite, but stops as she feels a weird feeling rush over her. It's a calmness, but also dark. She stands up from her position and attaches her lightsaber to its holder behind her back.
She doesn't really know what she's doing. Her mind says 'protect yourself, finish this,' but the Force was telling her to do something else. It's a stronger feeling that she can't ignore.
"Do feel the pull?" She whispers.
He hesitates to move. He doesn't open his mouth to speak, but the answer is there written across his face.
She smiles a sad smile. "Ben. I loved you."
Kylo's eyes soften slightly. His breathing picks up, and his eyes water. Kylo shook his head angrily like he was fighting himself like he twisted the words coming from her mouth into another sentence. Even more, triggered Kylo lifts his sabre to strike her down. Her heartbeats. She can feel it. Time seemed to be moving slower than normal. Mae turns her body counter-clockwise, dogging the blow. She hits him the jaw with her elbow. He takes it but stumbles back. She lowers herself and swipes her leg around to take out his legs. He falls to his knees. Mae feels like her body is moving for her as she moves quickly stepping back into super close range. He's off-balance but swings at her hip to slice her in half, she moves closer grabbing his arms. The two look at each other, he tries to pull away but she holds him there with all her strength, his arm pushed to her side. He slowly turns his wrist, angles his blade, changing the placement of the crossguards. It's so close to the skin on her back, it burns. She lets out a cry. She's fighting so hard, but something at the back of her mind tells her to do something different. She focuses, closing her eyes. She opens her eyes to looks into Kylo's once more. Letting her right hand leave Kylo's arm she reaches up to his face. Without one of her hands, the lightsaber burns deeper, but not for very long. Once the fingers of her right hand gently touch his forehead, his eyes roll back into his head.
Pain rushes through Mae and she lets out a bloodcurdling scream that shakes the walls. It was like all the pain Kylo was feeling directed itself to her. The scream echos off the walls, all the way into the hangar where Ahsoka, Poe and Caleb are waiting. Mae and Kylo collapse to the ground.
It's all black. Not a speck of light. Mae can barely see her hand waving in front of her face.
There's a faint voice. It gets closer.
"He can't keep me from you now... you will be mine."
"Who are you?" She screams into the void.
Everything is quiet, but mechanical breathing from a distance. Mechanical breathing that haunted her dreams before.
The voice laughs, so close to her ear. She jumps and turns around. His laugh is so vile so evil. It's so cold. Her lungs feel like they're full of ash and lava. Her heart hurts. Then she sees the glowing Sith yellow eyes.
"No. It can't be. It's not possible."