Categories > Movies > Star Wars > The Resistance
Rey’s eyes flickered open and took in her surroundings. She sat on a small bed, four metal walls surrounded the room. A washroom off to the side.
Remembrance rushed back to her in a flood. Dark set eyes, anger, the whirling of lightsabers, searing fire. She reached up and gingerly touched her cheek. Healing bandages had been applied over the small bit of burned cheek. She sat up in a flurry and began looking for her lightsaber, to no avail.
“You didn’t think I would actually leave it with you.” Murmured a tired voice in her mind.
She reached out with her mind. She was aboard a small ship, there was no other living soul aboard, but his. She sensed a single droid. Rey’s brows furrowed together in confusion. She had assumed he would come for her with soldiers, with artillery, with anything but what she felt before her.
“I always found it funny that this, this tension in my chest seems to lesson when you are physically near. Never mind where you are, do you sense it too? Quite odd.” His voice was calm, deep, and emotionless from within her mind.
Rey sensed he was down the hall from the small room. She looked around the room for something, anything to use as a weapon, ignoring his words. She grabbed the small lamp next to the bed. Checking to see if the doors were locked. They were not. She crept out of the room, clutching the lamp.
She caught sign of her blurred reflection in the reflective metal walls of the ships hallway. Her hair lay in tangles past her shoulders, dirt and sweat still stained her clothes from the fight. She let out a sigh of frustration, unsure of how to proceed. She hadn’t been in shackles, the door had been unlocked, her wound tended to. Why had he brought her here.
She crept around the corner at the end of the hall, entering a cramped dining area. Kylo Ren sat at a table, his back to her, looking out at the large window that made up the far wall of the room. He was dressed down from his usual ebony splendor, wearing a simple grey tunic and darger grey pants. No food sat before him, the table was clear. She took note and saw no lightsaber at his side.
Suddenly his hand reach up, and the lamp flew out of her hand and into his. He gently placed it on the table. “Please have a seat.” He remained where he sat, looking out at the darkness of space. The seat next to him slid out from the table.
Rey sighed and complied, finding no use in a fight, especially in such a small room, and with no useful weapons at hand. She took the seat and looked at his profile, dark tresses dangling into his eyes.
Ren finally turned his head and looked her in the eyes. She couldn’t fathom what lay in his expression, a quiet contemplative contenance. Gingerly she probed his mind, it was closed off to her. He was stronger mentally in close proximity.
“Strange isn’t it? I find I can close you off much easily when you are nearer to me, if I try.” The corners of his mouth twitched up slightly. “I can feel you in there, a soft green glow almost, just brushing against the outer limits of my mind where I have barred you. It feels as if, it feels as if your mind were the soft brush of lips against one’s ear, preparing to whisper.” He placed his arms out on the table, turning them palms up, showing her he was unarmed.
“You faltered on Endor.” She let slip bluntly, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair with comfort, sensing no danger from him.
His eyes narrowed, bare hands tensing into fists. “You can’t even begin to imagine what powers you can unlock with the force. A lightsaber flies into your hand, a collapse of rocks hover in the air, you speak to me across a galaxy, they are merely the start.” He turned his body in the chair so that he faced her more directly.
Rey shook her head. “You asked me once. You know my answer.” A brief pang of pain enveloped her heart as she remembered his face, imploring her to join him, and the rejection that washed over the hopeful expression as she said no.
Ren looked away, picking the image out of her mind. “Yes, yes I know.” He kept his face turned away from hers, and his voice grew horse. “I heard everything I needed to hear on Endor…” Silence hung in the air.
Rey raised her hand as if to reach out and lay it on his arm, but recoiled it. “So is this your master plan? Kidnap me with a small ship and one droid, torture me with sarcastic banter?” She sat up straight.
Ren pushed his chair back, standing up, linking his arms behind his back and slowly walking over to the large window. Rey’s eyes followed his movements cautiously.
“I do not care for the Resistance. They are now but a minor problem easily dealt with by Hux.” He raised one hand to the glass. Rey could see his features mirrored back at her through the window. His eyes were glazed over with thought. “Darth Vader was not the fearsome warlord we tend to think of. He was a slave. He was a slave as a child, he was a slave to the Jedi Order, and he was a slave to Darth Sidious. I, I will not be a slave.” He turned to look Rey in the eyes. “Snok’s death was not merely a gesture to spare your life. I refuse to forever be in the shadow of another and I fear now without a master that realizing my true abilities may be hindered. You too are without a master, as I have discovered.” He smirked with satisfaction at the thought of Luke Skywalkers demise.
Rey sent the lamp flying across the room, aimed at his head. Ren ducked and it shattered against the window. Deep rumbles erupted from his chest in a laugh as he stood back up. “I see myself in you more and more.” Rey glowered at him. “As I was saying, we are masterless, and I feel within you a hunger, a hunger for guidance, a hunger for knowledge, on the ways of the Jedi, on the ways of the force. I too have this hunger. To Snok I was but a ploy, given a sith title and made to do his bidding without being taught my true potential, potential he feared, and rightly so.”
He walked over to Rey and bent down before her in a gesture of supplication. “It is believed that in the unknown regions of the outer rim lies the origin of the force. Those tattered books you saw with Luke were nothing. This is the real fount of knowledge, not the scribbles of a lost religion but the real, the tangible. Join me. I know you will. I know not your reasoning, but I have seen it, you and I, fighting together once again.”
Rey looked down at him, trying to grasp what he was telling her. She believed he had seen her at his side in battle, that she felt was true. But she sensed deceit. He spoke the truth about her hunger for guidance, and believed he sought the same, but the two were not comparable. She sought the light and he the dark. “I don’t know what to say.” She almost whispered. “You speak as if my mind is already made up, and you act as such, attacking me and kidnapping me here aboard your ship.” She stood up, looking down her nose at him. “I need to think.” She couldn’t allow this to happen. She feared the poisoning of her mind by his ever increasing utilization of the dark side. She feared what care she felt for him would leave her weak to manipulation, but she knew the same applied for himself, there were feelings left in the shell that once was Ben Solo.
Rey turn to leave but Ren reached out, grabbing her hand, stopping her retreat. She turned to him with surprise. There it was again. Their hands together, an energy, a power, a connection they did not understand. She looked down at their hands, still clasped together, then back up into the dark pools of his eyes. “This,” He whispered in her mind, lips never moving, “This is what I seek to understand.”
Rey gave a small exhale. Their hands joined together felt like adrenaline coursing through her veins. It was an ecstasy. She tentatively reached out with the other hand and interlocked it with his. She closed her eyes. They were one mind. She saw herself in his eyes. She felt him feel her hesitation. She felt the necessity of this quest boiling within him. Their hands squeezed together as they probed each other mentally.
His hands let go of hers, but his fingers never left her skin. He ran his hands up her arms, resting them on her neck, his thumbs resting on her chin.
What connection there was grew stronger and a ripple ran down Rey’s spine. Through her mind she felt his eyes open. His face was inches from hers. He pulled her body gently closer, hands remaining on her neck. She could feel her body betraying her with want. He felt it too. Eyes still closed she reach up, grabbing hold of his wrists, and pulling his hands off of her, letting go of him altogether afterwards.
Her eyes sprang open then, and as they did the table, chairs, lamp, all suddenly came crashing down to the floor of the small room. Rey’s hand shot up to her mouth with surprise and embarrassment as she looked about the room past Rens hulking frame, and back at her shaking hands. She pried her eyes away from the scene and looked up at him, he was shaking too.
He wanted her.
She did not need the force to tell her that.
Rey abruptly spun on her heels, unable to take the tension in the room, unable to look at the overturned table and chairs, symbols of her weakness. She stalked off, sharply turning the corner and marching back to the small room she awoke in.
Behind her she heard the crashing of chairs against the floor, a sound of chaos. Her steps quickened and she raced into the room, doors whirling shut behind her.
*
She’d been laying on the bed in silence for hours. He hadn’t disturbed her and she hadn’t dared to venture out. She’d began to count the small metallic panels that made up the rooms ceiling. She’d purposefully left her mind a blank, unwilling to play the now familiar mental tug of war with him.
“Hey! Rey! Are you alive?” Came a familiar voice from the hidden communication device Finn had given her.
Rey sat up beaming, crossing her legs on the bed she pulled the device out from under her tunic. “Finn” She whispered, her mood instantly picking up. “Are you alive?”
A chorus of laughter came across the other line, including a Wookie cry.
“Yes” He laughed, “We all are.”
“Finn,” Rey held the device closer, and lowering her voice even further whispered, “Where am I ?”
There was a brief silence as Finn tracked her coordinates. “You aren’t too far from Tatooine actually, in the Outer Rim. Wait, what happened?” His tone was suddenly filled with worry.
“I sort have, may have, been kidnapped by Kylo Ren. But, it isn’t what it sounds like. He is practically alone, and isn’t on official First Order business. He left the fleet to find the source of the force…” She leaned back against the wall and drew her knees up, wrapping her free arm around them. “He left Hux in charge.”
“That explains it!” Came Poes triumphant voice.
“Wait what is happening?” She reached out mentally to ensure she wasn’t being listened in on.
She heard a short scuffle as her friends on the other end fought to be the one to share the news. After a grumble Rose came on the line. “We landed at Kashyyyk not too long ago and basically-”
“After much daring and bravery on my part” Chimed in Poe. She could hear BB-8’s grumbling in the background, “and BB-8’s”
Rose came back on, “Yes after much bravery we freed a large group of Wookie’s enslaved by the First Order. We have allies in them. We also heard from General Organa. She said that upon arriving at Tatooine they received intelligence that leadership amongst high ranking First Order officials were being questioned. That there were talks of a mutiny. Either way, they are too distracted by internal struggles to launch any kind of offensive. It’s perfect, we will have time to gather more allies at Tatooine.”
Poe came on the line, “If you’re with Kylo Ren, and he’s left the First Order for this, this mission, then that is why things are going off kilter over there.”
“Wait. Are you alright? Are you hurt? Can you escape? Do we need to come get you?” Finn’s voice picked up with anxiety.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I’ll keep him distracted until the Resistance is ready for attack. I’ll be alright. I promise. It would be best if you did not try and contact me again, I’m afraid he’ll find this thing.” She looked at the small device in her hand. “Just, just be safe. I’ll contact you soon.”
“Rey.” Finns voice was suddenly serious. “If you can kill him, do it.”
Rey hung her head. That was the one thing, the one thing she feared she would not be capable of. “May the force be with you.” She whispered before turning the device off.
She ran a hand through the tangle of her hair, fingers getting stuck in knots. She glanced over at the open doorway of the small washroom. Quietly she got out of the bed and peaked in. A small enclosed shower sat tucked into one corner next to a tiny toilet, sink, and mirror. On the edge of the sink sat a neat bundle; a folded towel, and a fresh pair of clothes that looked to be his. Rey sighed and began undressing to wash off the remnants of the fight.
*
He figured he’d let enough time pass. Or at least he told himself. In truth, Ren was eager to hear what she had to say. He had every intention of dropping her off on some reputable planet if she refused, planning to see her again on the battlefield where the intensity of physical contact was replaced by the contact of their lightsabers. But. If she accepted, he had every intention of using it, whatever it was, he thought, that was between them, from the force, and from elsewhere. Using it to draw her to him, to the dark side, landing the final blow when they found the source of such evil.
He’d been sitting on the only chair that had survived his minor burst of anger, and stood up, marching with determination towards her room, formerly his own. He stopped before the double doors, using the force to slide them open.
She sat on the bed, wet hair still trickling droplets onto the clean set of clothes he had set aside for her that she now wore. She was in a pose of meditation, eyes close.
He took a step to enter but the doors abruptly shut in his face.
“Care to try that again” She yelled from behind the doors, humor in her voice.
He scowled before clearing his voice. He raised a hand and firmly knocked on the double doors, annoyed with her.
“Yes?” She yelled back.
His scowl deepend. “Let me in,” he grumbled. He paused, waiting, but nothing happened. “Do you have any idea of who I am you pitiful child!” He roared, losing his temper.
The doors whirled open, Rey stood on the other side, her eyes alight with faint mischief. “I will go with you, without a fight, and with complacency...Ben.” She smiled, before closing the doors again in his face.
Remembrance rushed back to her in a flood. Dark set eyes, anger, the whirling of lightsabers, searing fire. She reached up and gingerly touched her cheek. Healing bandages had been applied over the small bit of burned cheek. She sat up in a flurry and began looking for her lightsaber, to no avail.
“You didn’t think I would actually leave it with you.” Murmured a tired voice in her mind.
She reached out with her mind. She was aboard a small ship, there was no other living soul aboard, but his. She sensed a single droid. Rey’s brows furrowed together in confusion. She had assumed he would come for her with soldiers, with artillery, with anything but what she felt before her.
“I always found it funny that this, this tension in my chest seems to lesson when you are physically near. Never mind where you are, do you sense it too? Quite odd.” His voice was calm, deep, and emotionless from within her mind.
Rey sensed he was down the hall from the small room. She looked around the room for something, anything to use as a weapon, ignoring his words. She grabbed the small lamp next to the bed. Checking to see if the doors were locked. They were not. She crept out of the room, clutching the lamp.
She caught sign of her blurred reflection in the reflective metal walls of the ships hallway. Her hair lay in tangles past her shoulders, dirt and sweat still stained her clothes from the fight. She let out a sigh of frustration, unsure of how to proceed. She hadn’t been in shackles, the door had been unlocked, her wound tended to. Why had he brought her here.
She crept around the corner at the end of the hall, entering a cramped dining area. Kylo Ren sat at a table, his back to her, looking out at the large window that made up the far wall of the room. He was dressed down from his usual ebony splendor, wearing a simple grey tunic and darger grey pants. No food sat before him, the table was clear. She took note and saw no lightsaber at his side.
Suddenly his hand reach up, and the lamp flew out of her hand and into his. He gently placed it on the table. “Please have a seat.” He remained where he sat, looking out at the darkness of space. The seat next to him slid out from the table.
Rey sighed and complied, finding no use in a fight, especially in such a small room, and with no useful weapons at hand. She took the seat and looked at his profile, dark tresses dangling into his eyes.
Ren finally turned his head and looked her in the eyes. She couldn’t fathom what lay in his expression, a quiet contemplative contenance. Gingerly she probed his mind, it was closed off to her. He was stronger mentally in close proximity.
“Strange isn’t it? I find I can close you off much easily when you are nearer to me, if I try.” The corners of his mouth twitched up slightly. “I can feel you in there, a soft green glow almost, just brushing against the outer limits of my mind where I have barred you. It feels as if, it feels as if your mind were the soft brush of lips against one’s ear, preparing to whisper.” He placed his arms out on the table, turning them palms up, showing her he was unarmed.
“You faltered on Endor.” She let slip bluntly, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair with comfort, sensing no danger from him.
His eyes narrowed, bare hands tensing into fists. “You can’t even begin to imagine what powers you can unlock with the force. A lightsaber flies into your hand, a collapse of rocks hover in the air, you speak to me across a galaxy, they are merely the start.” He turned his body in the chair so that he faced her more directly.
Rey shook her head. “You asked me once. You know my answer.” A brief pang of pain enveloped her heart as she remembered his face, imploring her to join him, and the rejection that washed over the hopeful expression as she said no.
Ren looked away, picking the image out of her mind. “Yes, yes I know.” He kept his face turned away from hers, and his voice grew horse. “I heard everything I needed to hear on Endor…” Silence hung in the air.
Rey raised her hand as if to reach out and lay it on his arm, but recoiled it. “So is this your master plan? Kidnap me with a small ship and one droid, torture me with sarcastic banter?” She sat up straight.
Ren pushed his chair back, standing up, linking his arms behind his back and slowly walking over to the large window. Rey’s eyes followed his movements cautiously.
“I do not care for the Resistance. They are now but a minor problem easily dealt with by Hux.” He raised one hand to the glass. Rey could see his features mirrored back at her through the window. His eyes were glazed over with thought. “Darth Vader was not the fearsome warlord we tend to think of. He was a slave. He was a slave as a child, he was a slave to the Jedi Order, and he was a slave to Darth Sidious. I, I will not be a slave.” He turned to look Rey in the eyes. “Snok’s death was not merely a gesture to spare your life. I refuse to forever be in the shadow of another and I fear now without a master that realizing my true abilities may be hindered. You too are without a master, as I have discovered.” He smirked with satisfaction at the thought of Luke Skywalkers demise.
Rey sent the lamp flying across the room, aimed at his head. Ren ducked and it shattered against the window. Deep rumbles erupted from his chest in a laugh as he stood back up. “I see myself in you more and more.” Rey glowered at him. “As I was saying, we are masterless, and I feel within you a hunger, a hunger for guidance, a hunger for knowledge, on the ways of the Jedi, on the ways of the force. I too have this hunger. To Snok I was but a ploy, given a sith title and made to do his bidding without being taught my true potential, potential he feared, and rightly so.”
He walked over to Rey and bent down before her in a gesture of supplication. “It is believed that in the unknown regions of the outer rim lies the origin of the force. Those tattered books you saw with Luke were nothing. This is the real fount of knowledge, not the scribbles of a lost religion but the real, the tangible. Join me. I know you will. I know not your reasoning, but I have seen it, you and I, fighting together once again.”
Rey looked down at him, trying to grasp what he was telling her. She believed he had seen her at his side in battle, that she felt was true. But she sensed deceit. He spoke the truth about her hunger for guidance, and believed he sought the same, but the two were not comparable. She sought the light and he the dark. “I don’t know what to say.” She almost whispered. “You speak as if my mind is already made up, and you act as such, attacking me and kidnapping me here aboard your ship.” She stood up, looking down her nose at him. “I need to think.” She couldn’t allow this to happen. She feared the poisoning of her mind by his ever increasing utilization of the dark side. She feared what care she felt for him would leave her weak to manipulation, but she knew the same applied for himself, there were feelings left in the shell that once was Ben Solo.
Rey turn to leave but Ren reached out, grabbing her hand, stopping her retreat. She turned to him with surprise. There it was again. Their hands together, an energy, a power, a connection they did not understand. She looked down at their hands, still clasped together, then back up into the dark pools of his eyes. “This,” He whispered in her mind, lips never moving, “This is what I seek to understand.”
Rey gave a small exhale. Their hands joined together felt like adrenaline coursing through her veins. It was an ecstasy. She tentatively reached out with the other hand and interlocked it with his. She closed her eyes. They were one mind. She saw herself in his eyes. She felt him feel her hesitation. She felt the necessity of this quest boiling within him. Their hands squeezed together as they probed each other mentally.
His hands let go of hers, but his fingers never left her skin. He ran his hands up her arms, resting them on her neck, his thumbs resting on her chin.
What connection there was grew stronger and a ripple ran down Rey’s spine. Through her mind she felt his eyes open. His face was inches from hers. He pulled her body gently closer, hands remaining on her neck. She could feel her body betraying her with want. He felt it too. Eyes still closed she reach up, grabbing hold of his wrists, and pulling his hands off of her, letting go of him altogether afterwards.
Her eyes sprang open then, and as they did the table, chairs, lamp, all suddenly came crashing down to the floor of the small room. Rey’s hand shot up to her mouth with surprise and embarrassment as she looked about the room past Rens hulking frame, and back at her shaking hands. She pried her eyes away from the scene and looked up at him, he was shaking too.
He wanted her.
She did not need the force to tell her that.
Rey abruptly spun on her heels, unable to take the tension in the room, unable to look at the overturned table and chairs, symbols of her weakness. She stalked off, sharply turning the corner and marching back to the small room she awoke in.
Behind her she heard the crashing of chairs against the floor, a sound of chaos. Her steps quickened and she raced into the room, doors whirling shut behind her.
*
She’d been laying on the bed in silence for hours. He hadn’t disturbed her and she hadn’t dared to venture out. She’d began to count the small metallic panels that made up the rooms ceiling. She’d purposefully left her mind a blank, unwilling to play the now familiar mental tug of war with him.
“Hey! Rey! Are you alive?” Came a familiar voice from the hidden communication device Finn had given her.
Rey sat up beaming, crossing her legs on the bed she pulled the device out from under her tunic. “Finn” She whispered, her mood instantly picking up. “Are you alive?”
A chorus of laughter came across the other line, including a Wookie cry.
“Yes” He laughed, “We all are.”
“Finn,” Rey held the device closer, and lowering her voice even further whispered, “Where am I ?”
There was a brief silence as Finn tracked her coordinates. “You aren’t too far from Tatooine actually, in the Outer Rim. Wait, what happened?” His tone was suddenly filled with worry.
“I sort have, may have, been kidnapped by Kylo Ren. But, it isn’t what it sounds like. He is practically alone, and isn’t on official First Order business. He left the fleet to find the source of the force…” She leaned back against the wall and drew her knees up, wrapping her free arm around them. “He left Hux in charge.”
“That explains it!” Came Poes triumphant voice.
“Wait what is happening?” She reached out mentally to ensure she wasn’t being listened in on.
She heard a short scuffle as her friends on the other end fought to be the one to share the news. After a grumble Rose came on the line. “We landed at Kashyyyk not too long ago and basically-”
“After much daring and bravery on my part” Chimed in Poe. She could hear BB-8’s grumbling in the background, “and BB-8’s”
Rose came back on, “Yes after much bravery we freed a large group of Wookie’s enslaved by the First Order. We have allies in them. We also heard from General Organa. She said that upon arriving at Tatooine they received intelligence that leadership amongst high ranking First Order officials were being questioned. That there were talks of a mutiny. Either way, they are too distracted by internal struggles to launch any kind of offensive. It’s perfect, we will have time to gather more allies at Tatooine.”
Poe came on the line, “If you’re with Kylo Ren, and he’s left the First Order for this, this mission, then that is why things are going off kilter over there.”
“Wait. Are you alright? Are you hurt? Can you escape? Do we need to come get you?” Finn’s voice picked up with anxiety.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I’ll keep him distracted until the Resistance is ready for attack. I’ll be alright. I promise. It would be best if you did not try and contact me again, I’m afraid he’ll find this thing.” She looked at the small device in her hand. “Just, just be safe. I’ll contact you soon.”
“Rey.” Finns voice was suddenly serious. “If you can kill him, do it.”
Rey hung her head. That was the one thing, the one thing she feared she would not be capable of. “May the force be with you.” She whispered before turning the device off.
She ran a hand through the tangle of her hair, fingers getting stuck in knots. She glanced over at the open doorway of the small washroom. Quietly she got out of the bed and peaked in. A small enclosed shower sat tucked into one corner next to a tiny toilet, sink, and mirror. On the edge of the sink sat a neat bundle; a folded towel, and a fresh pair of clothes that looked to be his. Rey sighed and began undressing to wash off the remnants of the fight.
*
He figured he’d let enough time pass. Or at least he told himself. In truth, Ren was eager to hear what she had to say. He had every intention of dropping her off on some reputable planet if she refused, planning to see her again on the battlefield where the intensity of physical contact was replaced by the contact of their lightsabers. But. If she accepted, he had every intention of using it, whatever it was, he thought, that was between them, from the force, and from elsewhere. Using it to draw her to him, to the dark side, landing the final blow when they found the source of such evil.
He’d been sitting on the only chair that had survived his minor burst of anger, and stood up, marching with determination towards her room, formerly his own. He stopped before the double doors, using the force to slide them open.
She sat on the bed, wet hair still trickling droplets onto the clean set of clothes he had set aside for her that she now wore. She was in a pose of meditation, eyes close.
He took a step to enter but the doors abruptly shut in his face.
“Care to try that again” She yelled from behind the doors, humor in her voice.
He scowled before clearing his voice. He raised a hand and firmly knocked on the double doors, annoyed with her.
“Yes?” She yelled back.
His scowl deepend. “Let me in,” he grumbled. He paused, waiting, but nothing happened. “Do you have any idea of who I am you pitiful child!” He roared, losing his temper.
The doors whirled open, Rey stood on the other side, her eyes alight with faint mischief. “I will go with you, without a fight, and with complacency...Ben.” She smiled, before closing the doors again in his face.
Sign up to rate and review this story