Chapter One

Was it all supposed to mean something, these visions that plagued her every moment? His dark, wavy hair. His deep voice. She could feel what he felt. She breathed the air he did, regardless of the miles between them. She could never shake his presence. And it was annoying her to DEATH.

"Rey." Master Luke's voice snapped her back to attention. "Do I have to ask you again?"

"I'm sorry, Master." She bowed her head, the frustration seeping onto her face, her eyebrows drawing together.

"Repeat what I asked you to do." He instructed and Rey felt her cheeks heating up. She couldn't for the life of her remember what he had been saying for the past five minutes. She'd been picturing…him.

"Forgive me, Master, I can't." she mumbled quietly and nudged a stone with her foot. She looked up to see Luke staring out at the sea, the view from the top of the island vast and expansive.

"I've sensed great unrest in you, child, ever since you have arrived. It only grows worse. You lack focus."

"I know." She replied quickly. He looked back at her when she said this. His eyes were full of concern.

"The Force cannot so easily be used when one's mind is full and distracted."

"So I need to empty my mind and focus?" she asked, clarifying his instruction.

"I am not giving you instruction." He stopped her, as if reading her mind. "I am explaining why I doubt your ability to continue with your training."

"What?" Rey snapped to attention at that. "Of course I can train! You've seen me focus! Master," she walked towards him a few steps and motioned to the lightsaber sitting on a rock next to him, "you saw me on the ice planet. I fought hard and well."

"Humble yourself!" he ordered firmly and Rey silenced her words. "We will continue tomorrow. You are done for today."

"Master-"

"Done." He put his hand up and for a moment she thought she felt a pushing at her stomach, trying to ease her away from him and back towards the hut that he and she shared now. But she would have none of it. She reached down and snatched up her staff and jogged off down the steps, retreating down to the shores where the island met the sea to clear her mind. Working with Luke had been a series of ups and downs. At first she had felt a simple connection with him, an understanding between them that she thought would bode well for their future of training. But as the weeks went on, she had begun to lose focus and lose trust in his techniques. He was so old school. Had he forgotten what the real world was like? She hadn't even touched the lightsaber since her fight with….she stopped her thoughts there. She was trying to keep the masked figure out of her mind. She reached the shore, a bit out of breath, but still in better shape after her weeks of training. She set her staff on the last steps and began her stroll along the shore, the course rocks and shells crunching under her boots. She ran her fingertips along the still bay water and carved bits out of the straight cliff that rose out of the shore. The days were always the same. Early mornings, hard training, small lunch, more training, and then hours of time to think. But she didn't want to think. She wanted to fight.

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Kylo Ren hated it. Everywhere he turned he saw her. Everywhere he looked, she was there. Everything reminded him of her, everything screamed her presence and shouted her aura. He could never lose her, no matter what he did. He could feel her heart beat at the intense training. He could share her sleeplessness at night. He felt her head spin with fatigue after bouts of trying mind tricks of her own. And he hated it.

"Leave me alone." He heard her murmur, her voice far off, almost as if she were underwater.

"I try." Was his reply, not knowing whether she would hear or not, not aware if their force bond was that strong. She was still young and inexperienced.

"Not hard enough." Her mind waves pulsed at his skull. She had replied. He closed his eyes, focusing on her essence, and saw her, sitting on the rocky beaches. She was alone, the wind ripping at her face, her eyes vacant. She hadn't heard him. She was talking to nothing. It had been his imagination.

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"Leave me alone." She spoke to the waves. She knew he would not hear, asked herself what her point was in saying it. She had no good reason other than just to take another try at calming her nerves. It did not work. Instead, she imagined his deep, dark voice replying with his cold, emotionless tone,

"I try." She sighed at the words. She hated him for it. He ruined her training, got in her way. While he went about his business, he had no idea that he was constantly blocking her, making things difficult. He would never know the troubles he caused her.

"Not hard enough." She sighed to herself and continued to watch the waves race each other to the shore. She was scared she would never be fully rid of Kylo Ren.

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He knew she was always going to be a part of him. He felt the rage rising in his chest. He drew his lightsaber and turned to the first thing he could see. That just so happened to be his desk. The pile of melted metal was not a pleasant smell. He growled under his breath and stepped out into the hall and signaled a storm trooper to his side.

"Maintenance." He growled and stalked off. It was time he worked out.

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"Padme." Rey breathed suddenly. She sat up in a cold sweat. Her eyes adjusted to the light and she saw Luke staring at her in concern. She was on her mat in the hut, drenched in sweat, her blankets thrown off and her stomach tied in knots. She couldn't breathe.

"Drink this." Luke quickly handed her a cup full of a liquid that she didn't care enough to identify, though the lingering burning in her throat suggested that it might have been alcohol. She coughed lightly and wiped her mouth and tried to slow her breaths. Luke took the cup from her and set it on the table behind him. "What did you see?"

"It…" Rey thought back to the woman standing in her room, fist to mouth, crying for a husband that was turned, a husband she had lost. Not to death, that would be better than this. She had lost him to the dark side. "It was nothing." She lied. She saw the knowing look in Luke's eyes. She had a suspicion that Luke knew the girl she was dreaming of.

"Do not dwell too much on your dreams. Often their meanings are simple and merely for a correction of character." He reassured her as he stood to take the cup away. "You should try to get a few more hours of sleep."

"I think I'll just stay up now." She sighed and tried to roll the stiffness out of her neck and back.

"You are scared to sleep." A whispering voice in the wind brushed her earlobe and she shivered. "You know you will see me." She jumped up and grabbed her staff. She recognized that voice. She always would. She could not escape it.

"I'll make breakfast then, I suppose." Luke offered as he began to move about the kitchen.

"But you need your sleep." Rey protested.

"I rarely sleep." Luke countered quietly as he laid two bowls out on the small table that sat low to the ground.

"You see things too?" Rey asked as she seated herself at the table. He sighed heavily as he sat down with her and filled both bowls with steaming rice.

"It is unusual to go a night without a vision." He admitted. "That is a common pattern for many of us who possess the Force."

"What are your visions?" she asked quietly, hoping she wasn't pushing too much into his personal thoughts.

"That is not of consequence." He replied and immediately she felt his mental barriers go up, ready to block out her prying mind. She wouldn't have tried to look into his dreams anyways, she thought sullenly. She took a few bites of the rice, then decided to voice what had been eating at her mind for some time now.

"Every night I dream of a girl." She divulged. Luke looked up intently. "She is very beautiful. Yet she is always unhappy in the dream. She is always crying."

"I see." Luke sat stiffly. "What does she look like?"

"She has brown hair, very curly. She is short, but stately." Rey tried her best to remember the girl. "Everything gets fuzzy after I wake up."

"You shouted a name earlier, when you first awoke. What was it?" Luke asked carefully, and Rey could tell he was on edge.

"Oh." Rey remembered yelling, but suddenly the name escaped her. "I can't remember now." She sighed in frustration and rubbed her forehead. Luke seemed to relax.

"It is probably not important. Dreams sometimes persist with dire messages. But some come with the Force, dreams that we must live with and accept for just what they are. Dreams." Luke stood up and took the two bowls away.

"You said dire messages?" Rey asked as she dusted some caked mud off of her staff.

"Some of the most important signs for a Jeddi come in his or her dreams." Luke stated. Rey pondered that. What if the crying girl was important? But how could she be? She had nothing to do with Rey. No connection. Then Rey startled herself, the images in the dream becoming clear.

"Master!" Rey stopped Luke as he had dawned his cape and was preparing to step out.

"Yes, Padawan?" Luke turned to look back at the girl.

"I remembered one other thing." Rey offered, her voice slowly quieting. "The girl," Luke gripped his staff tighter, "she was pregnant."