Even Rey cannot make a motivator out of blaster bolts and droid vindicators. Still weeks from Luke's hideout, Chewbacca maneuvers out of hyperspace and drops the Falcon right atop the galaxy's most drunken planet, Isonol. Known for it's intoxicating pleasures, the population has a reputation for inebriation. And it's a scavenger's dream. Wobbling visitors often crash vessels on the desert speedways, beyond the boundaries of law patrol vehicles. Piles and scatterings of oxidizing metal panels and engine casings remain untouched. Rey hasn't felt more at home in weeks
They ran out of credits back on Nabotha, renown for biological and medical innovation. Nabothian derm droids and fibrowraps are cheapest at their source, but the pair began with little funding and now have even less. Chewie takes a short job on Isonol for repairs and fuel. While he works, Rey hunts for superconductors, solder and electronics in the collapsing heaps of broken transports on the speedway.
A dusty solar panel creaks in protest as Rey pries black polygons from the exterior of an old-model TIE fighter. She settles into a groove and finds herself exploring uninvited thoughts as she deconstructs the fighter. She sees Han falling into a permanent state of non-existence and experiences the helplessness from star destroyer base once again. She fights back tears, a wasteful loss of water on Jakku, but the nagging feeling that she could have saved him persists.
Suddenly, one of the panels is dented and her knuckles are quietly oozing red. It is time to return to the Falcon.
Kylo Ren pulls dry, recycled air into his lungs, the airspaces violently expanding for the first time in seven days. His pulse screams in his ears while he rips a saline line from his arm and dresses, pulls on his helmet.
She is close, and he needs her. He wants the power that ripples just beneath Rey's skin. She would make a formidable ally, if nothing else. Maybe he does have compassion for her, but if she is his weakness, it doesn't matter. She is somehow more important than Luke and Ren must find her.
Healing wounds viciously bite into nerves, like a snarling, diseased animal. New scars feel strange and tight as he storms down duranium-lined hallways towards central command. Once there, electronic displays show limitless data accessed from archives, displaying security, terrain and demographic details about the planet crawling past the destroyer. Through large windows, a white-red sphere rotates subtly on its axis.
Hux's immovable expression is broken by a subtle jaw drop as Ren makes his appearance in the immaculate viewing room.
"You were slated to be in recovery for the next week!"
"The BB unit, it's here."
Hux's expression darkens.
"Then let's not fuck this up. I will send reconnaissance at once."
Hux jams commands into a console and shouts orders at the room's technicians. The orb outside the viewing glass comes to a dead stop.
Rey settles into her bunk, too tired to move but not exhausted enough to sleep.
He let her live. Kylo's years of experience should have bested her clumsy swings but she escaped with just a touch of frostbite and minor ice-abrasions. He was testing her, gauging her strength and ability. There was something unsettling about his expression, like she was familiar to him. He saw something beyond the scavenger from a dry, shriveled world. She has no misconceptions about who she is. Let's be real, Jakku is not the womb of heroes. Whatever he thought he saw, it was misguided.
She wonders about her own force abilities, but they can't be much more than a paltry handful of parlor tricks. Even so, if she knew how to control them, she would find a way to make them useful. Kylo was right, she needs a mentor, but Luke may refuse to teach her, she may not have the requisite strength or at worst, he could be dead.
But this is a problem for another day. Rey drifts into the dreamless rest of the sleep deprived.
Crackling vegetation would reveal a presence other than her own, but Rey cannot distinguish the sound from teeming forest life. Before she can even visualize Kylo's gloved hand, she is caught mid-stride, feet stuck to the ground, the air dense, like a form-fitting stone coffin.
Fear makes the universe very small and she feels the ground drifting away while peripheral vision vaporizes and proprioception disconnects. Weightless and focused, adrenaline inoculates her entire vascular system, down to the thinnest blood vessels. She wants to run, to fight, but her motor nerves refuse to fire.
"You knew what I wanted, and you refused to give it to me. Worse, I couldn't remove it from you. Very impressive." His voice has been decomposed and spit out in a metallic array of disrupted noise through the helmet.
Ren smoothly removes her light saber from its sheath at her hip, ignites it and waves it in front of her eyes, choking her visual receptors into temporary blindness. Her heart slams hard into her ribs, but this is not why he is here. The blade abruptly retracts, her vision slowly filters back in.
At their last encounter, a connection had passed between them, flashing briefly before it was entirely extinguished. It was distinct from the call to the light, something he had never experienced before. He perceives a similar flicker, now. This was why he had returned to her.
Rey can sense it, too, but she rejects it and attempts to expel it.
"You already know why I am here, and we both know what you need. I can give it to you. I can show you the way."
"So can Luke Skywalker."
"Not like I can."
"I've seen you, inside your mind. You are a murderer. I will never be like you."
"You're very good. But not that good. I am not the monster that you think I am."
"Then what do you want. " A demand, not a question. "Stop fucking around."
He only knows how to take what he wants. He has never been much of a politician. Rey's hatred and fear pummel him in bitter waves. She was not the first to have a strong opinion of Kylo Ren, but he doesn't like the way she looks at him.
Ren releases his hold. Rey, surprised, tumbles to the ground, springs back to her feet and carefully paces backwards. He watches her, gripping her saber in his palm like a taunt, but he quietly removes the helmet as if to level with her. He meets her intense gaze, and does not look away as he places two saber hilts on the ground.
"I want to teach you, to help you. Don't be afraid of your future, there is more for you ahead than there ever was on Jakku."
Maz had said much the same thing.
"You have destroyed so many lives, do you really think I am that foolish? You are so evil. I won't help you even if I must die."
"If you return to FN-2187, Finn, I will have to follow you. Bloodshed will be inevitable. By joining me you will save your friends and you will find your family. You don't have to be alone."
"That is a promise you cannot keep and you are a hateful shit for suggesting that you can." Despite herself, she feels the urge to injure Kylo, just to feel his pain.
This conversation will not end the way he wants. Rey is unexpectedly sensitive. There is an easier, more effective way. He force-freezes her once more, steps forward to place a hand on her face, aggressively entering into her memories. He does what he can to dampen the pain, but rapid disruption can be nothing but uncomfortable. Rey doesn't appear to notice and immediately pushes back, invading his mind, her untrained probe rips at his consciousness like barbed wire. He doesn't resist, instead he slams up mirrored images for her to digest.
Rey sees herself. She is young, playing on golden sand ridges, digging her toes into the cool under-layers and giggling with other children. She watches the stars crawl across the sky and wonders how many worlds exist beyond her own. A trail of bright, flashing beacons adorns the tallest dunes in the darkness; Rey's own invention, hailing a family she may never know. Rey sees her old home, a run-down AT-AT, devoid of possessions. She bristles with hope and longing at an image of the wall adorned with scratches which mark days, weeks and years.
Just as abruptly, Kylo lets her go.
Rey's knees hit the forest floor, tears streaming down her face. Kylo kneels with her, maintaining their physical contact, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb.
"I know this cannot be easy, but those are only the memories that you remember so often you can't protect them. That is only the surface. There is more."