This is darker than my usual fics, but not that dark.
Trigger warnings since this is the interrogation scene we're talking about.
Much thanks to ObeliskX.
Rey could feel someone watching him as he woke up. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing as even as he could to try and keep from alerting whoever was observing him that he had woken up.
He tried to recall the last thing that he could remember. He was on Takodana running away from the First Order. He hoped that they didn't get their hands on BB-8.
Rey might have run away from the lightsaber, and the destiny along with it, that Maz had offered him, but that didn't mean that he wanted the First Order to win. It just meant that Rey needed to get back to Jakku and didn't have the time nor inclination to be caught in the middle of a war.
He subtly checked his situation as best as he could, strapped down as he was. He tried his arms, which were a no go. Both were held tight enough to keep his from moving, but whatever restraints were used did not cut off the circulation in his arms.
His legs were harder to check covertly. But Rey managed to move his lower legs enough to ascertain that there was no escaping unless someone let him out.
A snort caused him to open his eyes.
He looks at his captor, Kylo Ren, darkest bastard if there ever was one. Even on Jakku, which was as backwater a planet as they come, Rey had heard of the man.
Rey stared at him, surprised that he had deigned Rey important enough to question him personally.
Oddly enough, Rey noticed that Kylo Ren was not a tall man. He figured that the man would be taller, given his reputation, but the person standing in front of him was shorter than he was.
"Where am I?" Rey asked, keeping the fear out of his voice. As intriguing as it was to be face to mask with Kylo Ren, it still didn't change the fact that the man was dangerous.
"You're my guest," Ren replied after a pause. Rey couldn't see it, but he could hear the smirk that was probably on the other man's face.
"Where are the others?" Rey asked.
He didn't know what happened. Finn was probably somewhere on the Outer Rim. But Han and Chewie could also be captive somewhere on the ship he was in. As for BB-8, a chill ran down Rey's spine as he thought of the consequences if BB-8 was captured.
"You mean the murders, traitors, and thieves you call friends?" Ren asked.
The tone of his voice causes Rey's stomach to flop, and not in a good way. Han and Chewie were probably all of those things that Ren had listed, but they had been good to him. They could have stranded him and Finn somewhere or turned over BB-8 for credits. But they didn't.
"You'll be relieved to hear that I have no idea," Ren shrugged.
Rey continued to stare at the man. Still curious as to why he wasn't being tortured yet. Not that Rey wanted to be tortured, it just seemed like how things would go. Come to think of it, he hadn't even been asked anything. Ren had been answering all the questions instead of asking them.
"You still want to kill me," Ren observed.
"That happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask," Rey spat out.
Ren titled his head, considering Rey. As Ren's arms raised, Rey prepared himself to be attacked. So he was surprised when Ren's hands went to the latches of his helmet.
Rey's eyes narrowed as Ren began to unlatch his helmet. He scowled, fully prepared to hate the man more when the helmet came off. Rey figured that Ren was in a mask for a reason.
When the helmet came off, Rey's scowl slipped as his mouth dropped open in shock.
Standing before him was Kylo Ren. A woman.
Ren smirked, causing Rey to scowl once more. Man or woman, Kylo Ren had a reputation of doing evil things, he could not afford to underestimate her. Monsters came in all shapes and form after all.
"Tell me about the droid," she said, her voice sounding different, but no less harsh, without the mask.
Rey gave an inward sigh of relief. If Kylo Ren was asking about BB-8, which must mean that they didn't have the droid. It wouldn't hurt to tell her about BB-8.
"He's a BB unit," he began nervously. "With a selenium drive and a thermal hyperscan vindicator-"
"He's carrying a section of a navigational chart," Ren interrupted. "We have the rest, recovered from archives of the Empire. We need the last piece. And somehow, you convinced the droid to show it to you. You."
Ren gave him a quick once over. Rey could tell that the woman didn't think much of him.
"A scavenger…"
Rey would have taken a step back if he could. How did she know? Ren walked closer to him, looking him up and down slowly, considering him. She leaned close and whispered.
"You know I can take whatever I want."
Cold dread filled Rey. If she breached his mind, if she saw what he saw and combined that map with the Empire's, then all hope for the Resistance would be lost. He was the only thing standing between the First Order and total domination of the galaxy.
Ren took a step back and raised her hand to Rey's face. She was staring at him, but he knew that she was seeing something else.
And then he felt it. Something that passes from her to him and back. Something that marked them as equals. But the moment was fleeting and, sure enough, the feeling was gone. He knew that she felt it, but her face did not betray anything.
Despite that, he could still feel her presence in his mind. She was prodding, probing for information. Rey wasn't going to let things be easy for her.
"You're so lonely, so afraid to leave," Ren observed with a small smile gracing her face. "At night, desperate to slee. You imagine an ocean. I see it. I see the island."
The pressure was getting to him. It felt like a massive migraine after a long day in the sun on Jakku with only a little water. Resisting was bringing tears of both frustration and pain to his eyes.
Rey tries to push her out of his mind. Failing that he tries to break the restraints he was in so that he could break her concentration through physical means. The attempts only left him frustrated.
"And Han Solo. You feel like he's the father you never had," she continued, a bitter look flashed across her face for a brief moment. "He would've disappointed you."
Her hand stroked his face, a mockery of a lovers caress. Rey's eyes blazed with anger, despite the pain that he knew was all in his mind.
"Get out of my head," Rey said through clenched teeth.
Ren's hand stilled. She gave him a smirk and moved her face closer to his.
"I know you've seen the map. It's in there," she said calmly as she stroked his hairline. "and now you'll give it to me."
Rey resisted, the pain was becoming unbearable. The smug look on Ren's face made him mad.
"Don't be afraid," she softly whispered. "I feel it too."
Something inside Rey snapped. He had no idea what it was, but it gave him the strength to push against her.
"I'm not giving you anything." He defiantly told her.
"We'll see," she replied as she raised an eyebrow.
Their eyes meet and lock together. They became embroiled in a battle of wills. Neither knew how long this battle lasted, it seemed to go on forever. Then suddenly, Ren's confidence slipped, her mental shields cracked. Rey had his opening.
"You…you're afraid," he observed.
Mind reading was tricky, and he was using a blunt instrument at best. Nothing resembling the finesse that Ren had done earlier. Still, he had the advantage, and he pressed it.
"That you will never be as strong as," Rey's eyes narrowed. The mental image that he was seeing was a burnt mask, but the emotions attached to it were clear. "Darth Vader!"
Kylo Ren recoiled, as if Rey had physically punched her. Her hand drops to her side and she reevaluates the scavenger.
Rey kept his eyes on her. The hold she had his body in stopped. He was free to move as much as his physical restraints allowed him to. Her presence in his mind had also gone away. Rey found that although he had overpowered her and entered her mind, he could not do so on his own, not yet.
She took one step back, and then another, still watching him, as if expecting him to do something else. He just glared at her. She turned on her heel and retreated from the room without another word, leaving her helmet behind.
I'm really sorry if I triggered someone. Leave me a review to tell me what you think?