Rey looked up from the young training students, who were attempting to force grab the janitor's mop aboard the Resistance's ship. A slight wiggle and the delights of the reddened faces of the children escaped Rey's sight. A slight rumbling emanated from underneath her. She felt a pull of energy around her body, one so familiar but distant, as if from a dream or a nightmare.
She spun around and followed the force which led her into General Leia's sleeping quarters. She stopped abruptly, staring at a cowering figure; his cowl in tattered pieces, helmet cracked. A helmet she's never seen before. She blinked wildly, words escaping her. The masked man looked up sharply, hands bracing his weight against the floor.
"Rey…" a deep voice pleaded.
Rey inhaled sharply, her eyes softened for a mere moment. She took a step forward in contemplation and stood her ground.
"I...thought-" The man continued, his breath heavied.
"I have nothing to say to you, Kylo Ren." Rey looked down at the man defiantly, her lip quivered. "Or would you prefer Supreme Leader?"
A small voice trembled through the mask, he lowered his head in shame. Still kneeling before her. Rey noticed he was holding his rib. Drops of blood fell from his leathered glove onto the floor.
"Are you here for pity?" She growled savagely.
Kylo Ren shook his head slowly, "I didn't choose this." He helped himself up slowly, hands still gripping his side.
"Yes, you did choose this." She glowered at him, a smirk planted on her lips. Without another word, she spun around and headed out of Poe's quarters.
"Wait-" Kylo outstretched his hand out to her. She faced him once more as his hand fell lazily at his side. "You changed your hair." He said soflty.
"And you're still a creature in a mask. Funny how some things change and some people don't. I know you. What you do now does not even compare to your past actions….you're inhuman. A broken image of a boy who once was. Are you satisfied you've surpassed Vader's legacy?" She looked at him angrily, her fist now clenched.
Kylo lifted his bloodied glove to his helmet and threw it aside. His familiar gaze penetrated hers. "You do know me. The only one who ever has." He said in a whisper. She took a moment to study his features. A face so unfamiliar, a ghost of a person who had potential to do good. His hair was longer than she had last seen, and another scar grazed his left brow. Yet, his dark eyes still glimmered into hers.
"Whatever you're doing won't work this time. It's my turn to finish what you've started." She jerked her hand to her hanging belt and rested her handed on her hilted saber. "I've re-established the Resistance, there are new force users ready to fight for the cause, everything you fought to destroy.''
Kylo took a limping step towards her, allowing Rey to grip the hilt of her blade tighter. Kylo looked down and examined the saber through the entangled fingers. He looked up in awe, impressed. "You made it…" He said under his breath.
Rey unhooked the hilt from her belt and unleashed the saber. A flaming hot white energy flew out from one side of the lightsaber, and then again from the other, mirroring each other perfectly. She twirled the double ended saber proudly in her hands and pointed it at him viciously. "I learned a thing or two in the past five years."
Kylo took a step back, eyeing the saber's tip. "I can explain." He rushed his words now. "I've been overthrown, my own army-well Hux's army have taken over-"
Rey's brow arched. "Have they also come to realize how much of a monster you've turned to be?"
Kylo winced at her words. "N-no, you don't understand. They're planning an att-"
"Enough!" Rey exclaimed violently.
"Rey?" A woman's voice turned her focus over. An older woman, buns for hair stared worriedly at her.
She turned her focus to the woman at the doorway, whose brows raised curiously. "General Leia" She breathed heavily, looking around frantically. She sheathed her saber back onto her belt. Kylo stood wordlessly between them. His face softened even more at the sight of his mother.
"I mean..." Leia looked between Rey and instinctively into the eyes of her son who she could not see "not really complaining that you're in here. But why are you in here?" She half smiled, Leia's focus passed Rey's shoulder.
Rey looked behind her and Kylo was gone, she looked back at Leia frantically. " I um...thought I heard something in here." She lied.
Leia looked beyond her and noticed blood on her floor. She rushed over and looked between her blank stare and the drops of floor on the ground. "Rey are you okay, are you bleeding?" She walked over to her and studied her, worried, looking for her wound.
"N-no...I'm fine. Thank you." Rey stuttered as the General rested her hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes.
"If you say so. Need my favorite Resistance player in tip-top shape." She smiled widely, and shook her affectionately.
"You tell Poe and Chewbacca the same thing." She chuckled back.
He shooed her jokingly. "Ah, you caught me! I can't pick favorites now, can I? I'm blessed with a great team, what can I say?" Leia let go of her shoulder and eyed her more seriously. "Listen...I've been meaning to speak to you." Her tone deepened.
Rey gulped in response.
"What do you think we set up camp...a more stable base somewhere?" She paced back and forth in her quarters, stopping at the view; the total darkness of space.
"I-I would like that." Rey responded sincerely.
"What's a woman gotta do to get a decent meal around here up in the air? The New Order haven't tracked us up here yet, I feel like they've covered all ground. Should buy us some more time to train the Younglings. Any suggestions?"
Rey looked deep in thought. "Fondor?" She asked her hopefully.
Leia stopped her pacing and looked at her blankly. " Have you seen them? There are kids on this ship. They're a creepy bunch of people. Bald and purple skin…" She muttered waving off her idea. "Bald…and purple...I hate purple..." she repeated softly, jerking her head in disagreeance.
"Hardly scary…" Rey responded, however Leia disregarded her comment. "Well actually..." Rey lifted an index finger in the air, the idea coming to her. "Ossus." She concluded, nodding her head, as if agreeing with herself. "That's where Luke trained some of his disciples, there's a temple there...abandoned for years. That's what he told me."
Leia stopped in her tracks. She looked at her with fear in his eyes. "Won't he know to check there?"
"This was the first generation of Jedi he taught," correcting him. "I can find the temple."
"And Ben?" Leia eyed her seriously.
Rey shuddered at his name and looked into the eyes of his mother, thinking of her next words carefully. "He wouldn't know of its existence. We need solid ground Lei-General…" She corrected herself, ashamed.
She quickly walked in her direction, closing the gap by mere inches. "You knew Luke the most in the later parts of his life. I'm putting my trust in you, our lives our in our own hands. Send the coordinates to the bridge crew. Meet me there in ten."
_
Rey put away the sacred Jedi texts hidden under her flimsy mattress. Her quarters were bare and looked untouched. However, the bed was facing the window which she would stare through during her sleepless nights. She left her quarters and told the Younglings to head to their respective rooms.
"Where are we going?" A young blonde boy beckoned after her. He clung to the door, only one of his blue eyes peered at her innocently.
Rey turned back in surprise. "Somewhere safe." She gave him a small smile. He returned the smile and scurried off, the heavy door shut behind him in a loud rumble.
Rey's ears perked. Something felt off. And again, another rumbling noise, this time louder circled around her. She instinctively ran to the children's wing and pressed the emergency enclosure which created a double-walled cortosis barrier. She grabbed the hilt of her saber and rushed towards the bridge. "LEIA!" She screamed vehemently. As she reached the doors of the bridge, Leia gave her a weak smile. Rey tried to pull open the door with no luck. Leia's eyes lowered solemnly. Rey bashed furiously at the door as a wave of flames engulfed the bridge, throwing Leia up against the door.
The ship in distress, careened in a downward motion and Rey's stomach lurched. The emergency siren started blazing as hundreds of students grabbed onto anything they could find in arm's reach for a weapon.
From the corner of her eye, Poe whizzed into her view and violently tried to open the bridge door. But Rey was unfocused, her eyes in shock. Poe gently rested his hands onto her shoulders. "Can you get me in?" His breath was heavy and his eyes pleaded. "Rey!" He summoned her, waking her from her trance like state.
Rey fell to her knees and stared at the door. Poe heard the faintest click and roughly opened the door, ran to Leia and dragged her out of the room. He lay her next to Rey. Rey snapped out of it. She saw Leia's disfigured face as Poe kept muttering to himself. "I need to pilot the ship. Where are the CONTROLS!?" He yelled frantically, rubbing his hands through his hair as he looked at all the bodies badly burned on the bridge.
"Rey…" She heard softly. Rey thought she was dreaming, she was listening to Leia's voice. She looked down and Leia was holding onto Rey's clammy hand. "My son, I know you saw him, I felt his presence." Rey held onto Leia's hand tighter and stared into her eyes, her face covered in red. "You're the only o-one. He's in trouble...I know it. Save him, Rey. For me."
Rey stared into Leia's closing eyes as if time was passing slowly. A rush of people swept up the General and headed to the medical bay. However, Rey focused on the burned arm that now hung from the frantic cries.