Slowly I feel myself begin to regain my consciousness. The lights above me blur in and out of focus as I attempt to move my head and examine my surroundings. At first, it seemed useless. My body aches far too much and my head still feels too clouded to make sense of anything. Then I feel it. A pressure that suddenly fills my brain. It is painful. It feels as if my very soul is being torn and picked apart. But I use this pain and build up enough adrenaline to snap myself out of this catatonic state. My eyes snap open and my head now faces forward as I take a few shallow breaths, trying to collect myself. I see him then. Kylo-Ren. The masked creature who has brought me here. My heart begins to race as he turns his head to face me.

"W-where are my friends?" I ask, my voice is shaking.

"Those betraying, backstabbing people you call friends?" Kylo replies. "You'll be relieved to hear...I have no idea."

I'm still trembling from my forced unconscious state. I feel a burning sensation spread throughout my chest and I quickly realize how angry I am for letting myself end up in this predicament. I know he wants information about the map but I wasn't going to let him have it. I grind my teeth as I begin kicking and pulling against the restraints that hold me down. "I'll never tell you anything!" I scream out. "You Monster!"

Kylo chuckles as he watches me squirm. Abruptly I stop as I realize it's giving him some sort of satisfaction. I seethe as I watch him just sit there, staring back at me.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" He asks me, his head cocking a bit to the side. His laughter ceases and his tone is once again very serious.

It wasn't true. It was not in me to want to kill anyone but I'm angry so I spit back at him. "Well, that happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask!"

Now Kylo-Ren looks down and away from me. His gloved hands reach for each side of the mask that covers his face. As he pulls it off he rises out of his seat, standing a good few inches taller than me. I look at him now and I feel my heart ache as I look at his face. Suddenly I feel my anger wash away as it's replaced by an overwhelming sadness and confusion. I look over his smooth pale face before my eyes set on his own that are as dark as his curly hair. In this moment, as we look back at each other, I feel the slightest bit of insecurity that isn't my own but then it vanishes.

"How- ." I choke out. Now there are tears running down my face that I hadn't even felt well up. "How can you have so much hatred in your heart?"

I watch as his dark eyes narrow in on me as he quickly rises his hand level to my face. That same sharp pain and pressure return but this time it attacks my whole body, holding me complexly still. My eyes shoot over to him as I watch him slowly step towards me. My chest begins to rise and fall quickly as I struggle to breathe. The pain is so intense but I still attempt to fight it back. Beads of sweat now roll down my face along with my tears.

"You're afraid." He tells me as he now stands inches away from me. His breath brushing against my face. His hand is still raised, holding me, as he uses the Force to search through my mind. "You fear that if I can be so easily seduced by the Dark side then maybe you can be too."

I clench my eyes shut and rasp out: "Stop."

"You're so.. lonely." He continues. I hear him swallow as he tries to grasp this overpowering emotion of mine in it's entirely. I gasp out suddenly, as I feel him stretch out my childhood memories from my mind. I see myself back in the desert, slowly aging but where I sit is the same old metal hole that has become my home stays the same.

"So are you." I snap back at him. "But I don't need to be in your head to see that."

Kylo quickly twists his wrist and with that motion my head forcibly snaps to the side so I am now facing him. My eyes widened as I am forced to look into his dark ones.

"You feel sorry for me." His voice breaks slightly as he says this.

He cracks a side ways smile at the idea of anyone pitying someone as powerful as him. To him, my compassion is a sign of weakness.

"But there's more than that..." He says suddenly as I feel the Force dig deeper into my every thought and emotion. "You wonder if I feel the same as you."

I feel my breathing hitch as he now focuses once more.

"You wonder if I feel the same connection you feel between you and I." He stated, the middle of his forehead creasing. "If I would really kill you when you now second guess if you could kill me."

"I don't want to hurt anyone." I explain through each rapid breath I take. I feel my blood rush through my body as he says these things aloud. Though his words are true they still come as a shock to me, for I must have buried them deep inside myself. I fight to turn away from him but it is no use. Kylo stares at me for a moment.

"I can take anything I want from you." He reminds me. I can feel that these things that he is seeing within me are unnerving to him. He wants me to fear him but I do not. We are too connected with each other through the Force. I see too much of the real him to cower to Kylo-Ren. I see his own fears, his insecurities and sadness, just as he sees mine.

"I feel it too." He quietly admits to me, as if someone may be listening in on us. I feel his hold on me loosen just enough so I can finally take in full deeps breathes. Now I am no longer shaking from the pain and now the room grows silent before he speaks again. "The moment I felt your presence in the forest I knew you were powerful and that this power would allow you to see a part of me that I've spent so many years trying to forget. But still..." He stops for a moment and I swear I can see him choke back some sudden rush of emotion. "I am stronger than you." He says this to me slowly but firmly, as if trying to make sure I understand this. "You let this connection we share through the Force weaken you. I can feel it, all of this power and you still hesitate to fight me back. Unfortunately for you... " He pauses briefly and snaps his tongue as he considers his next sentence. "I am not not afraid to use this to my advantage."

Kylo stands straight and looks at me intensely. His hand again launches forward and immediately my body strains once more but this time he is not holding back. I cry out as I am lifted up against the restraints. They are the only things that are keeping me from being hurled through the metal ceiling above us.

"Tell me what you know about the map." He demands. His voice comes out sounding like a low growl. He is angry. He is through with waiting around.

"I won't!" I scream back at him.

Then he grinds his teeth together. "Very well then" he says.

I feel him again, inside my head. This time he is not at all careful with any memory, thought or emotion that he searches through. It feels as if a million knives are being jammed into my skull. I throw my head back and scream.

"Each night you have the same dream." He yells back too me over my cries. "You're waiting for your family but you know they're never coming back, but still you sit in the desert waiting. You are alone and deep down you fear you'll die with your loneliness."

He has dug deep into my most sacred and painful emotions, using our connection to to each other to find them. I feel his power open them up like an old wound before he even begins to say them aloud. He is trying to make me vulnerable. He wants me to crack and let down my defenses. It doesn't work and I feel him growing even more furious. He pushes forward again there is sweat now covering my body. I look back into at him as he causing me this excruciating pain. I feel my heart beat fast as I begin to clear my mind and focus as I feel my own power pour out of me and knock into him.

He stumbles back slightly but he is still trying to search through my mind as I push his power back out of it. It only takes a moment but now I am also in his head.

"You're afraid, Ben." I say to him, mimicking the same too serious tone he had used with me. He tenses at the sound of his name. "You fear that I could be more powerful than you...and even worse...you fear you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader!"

I release him and I watch as he collapses to his knees on the floor of the ship. His hands reach the door frame to hold himself up as he takes a few deep breathes. I have been inside his head and have felt his dreams and fears as if they are my own. The darkness that I felt inside of him suddenly envelops me in a cold grasp. Immediately, I feel an evil that I've never known fill me then just as quickly vanishes. It leaves me feeling low and a flash anger washes over me.

It only lasts for a few I know that for Kylo, this darkness has become his whole life. He knows I've felt it. I can feel the frustration radiate off of him as he realizes that I too have felt the Dark Side through him. I am the one who has made him feel vulnerable.

Kylo moves his body to face the door, refusing to look at me.

"If you don't tell me what you know about the map when I return, you are dead." He growls out before punching a dent in the metal wall before stalking away. The door quickly closes behind him, leaving me again alone in the darkness.