Rey shakes lightly as she makes her way past ceiling high doors. She tries to concentrate on the graying braids in front of her. Ever since coming back from Ach-to Leia has been more of a mother to her than any one, and even now, the light pressure of the General's hand squeezing her own is the only thing keeping the young Jedi from bolting off-planet.
Honestly, if it was up to Rey, She would be living somewhere off in unknown space, maybe back on Ach-to with Master Luke, meditating on the mountains, or in an abandoned Jedi temple discovering the secrets of her ancestors, but unfortunately, the world had to go and get itself in trouble. So not only has she been living in the cramped base on D'qar, but now that Luke has ran off again, unfortunately its her job to save the galaxy. Not to mention, Rey is the one The First Order asked for by name. She closes her eyes for a beat, taking a deep breath in to try and calm herself.
The Rebellion needs this.
Rey repeats the sentence over and over in her mind as Leia continues to tug her along. She tries to block out the imperial troopers on either side of them, tries to forget where they are, but it is no real use. In one last attempt to bring herself to peace she calls onto the force, letting the energy flow through her, connecting herself to the planet.
Darkness follows and Rey can't help but hiss. When she opens her eyes again they have all halted at a large steel door. And she can feel him on the other side, radiating hate. The force pulls tight on her ribcage, suffocating and squeezing and tugging her towards the door. Open it, She can almost hear his voice, meet your destiny now. Rey doesn't even have to reach out, one of the troopers swipes an I.D. card through the command panel and the metal slides away.
There is a long meeting table, meant for at least twenty, with two resistance officials already sitting down closest to them. At center of the table are four negotiators, and the far end is where the First Order has perched. Of course, Rey doesn't really notice any of this. Her eyes are deadlocked with the cold glass panel of a black mask.
General Hux stands slightly behind the knight of Ren, who has already made himself as comfortable as he could be in this situation. The red-head wears a drastic sneer with his nose upturned to them. He turns to face them slightly more and nods his head to Leia. The Knight, however, does not budge an inch. Rey can feel the knots in his stomach as if they were his own, and shes not quite sure if they are hers or not. She hasn't quite got a handle on the force yet, but even so, this strikes her as odd, with the other force-sensitives she doesn't feel so-
"Close." Hux commands with a wave of the hand, and the soldiers behind them swipe a card again and seal them all into the room like sardines.
Something is hanging in the air that is dense and angry, but no one has a name for it. Really, There is not a single person in the room, including the several mediators, who thinks what is about to happen is a good idea.
Leia's hand moves from Rey's onto the newly trained Jedi's shoulder. Rey meets the grip with her own. It must be hard, she tries to sympathize, to see her son like this. Leia carried that monster in her womb and in her arms. She cared for him when he had fevers and tucked him in at night.
Then again, so did Han- And Rey can't look past the monster anymore.
"Please, sit." Hux offers too quickly. One of his gloved hands gesture to the table but he does not move a muscle otherwise. Leia and Rey slowly make their way to the table, and lower themselves into chairs. This has all been set up carefully, and each person knows one wrong move is all it takes for chaos to break. On each side of the almost empty building both parties have forces carefully posted in anticipation of a trap. Even despite all the careful strategizing and planning, Rey cannot free her hand from her light saber at her hip.
"Then we should begin on why you're here."
"It's a trade right?" Rey speaks up.
"Rey, calm down. It's not ideal, yes, but-" For once, Rey wouldn't let Luke finish his thought.
"Not ideal? Not ideal! I'm not going anywhere near them, master." She shakes her head violently, taking shelter near his sister. "Am I just supposed to let that maniac corrupt me?" Leia gives a minuscule flinch with speak of her son and guilt comes over Rey for bringing him up.
"They have a good chunk of our forces, Rey." Leia speaks up. " They could destroy us in one move right now. Hell-" She gives a small laugh. "This whole thing is probably a trap, but it's the only thing we've got."
Rey wants to scream. There is nothing about this situation that is at all appealing. Part of her wishes she had never left Jakku, Unkar Plutt was no where as bad as Kylo Ren will be.
"It'll be a lot easier to liberate you than all those men. " Luke leans against his sister's desk. "Besides, You are strong enough in the light to resist his… teachings."
For a moment she is dumbfounded.
"So that's your plan? Trade me and then rescue me?" Luke smiles like he's proud of himself.
"Yes."
-
"The first order thinks it is in our best interest- "one of the mediators in all black starts "-to keep the only two force users of this generation together." Rey's jaw tightened. She just wants this to all go away but the man continues on anyway. "And as we understand it is a large thing to trade we are prepared to release into your hands the Resistance prisoners caught in the last two years as well as a small cluster of planets that will be a peace zone for your people to inhabit."
"In exchange for Rey only?" Leia crosses her arms, an eyebrow raising in suspicion.
"There is a stipulation. " The man answers. "Supreme Leader requires more strong darksiders."
"And you think you can turn me over?" Rey purses her lips into a straight line. Despite being warned again and again to say nothing she cannot hold her tongue.
"I will do my best." Kylo deadpans through his voice synthesizer. Rey can't help but shrink back, she had forgotten the way the mask sounded, when she thought of him she only thought of the soft voice she had heard in the interrogation chamber- the one she heard involuntarily in her thoughts.
"once again- not exactly-" The man in black is doing his best to tiptoe around the subject. His voice is delicate and he mumbles his way through.
"It is a marriage." The other First Order Negotiator becomes impatient and squawks.
"A marriage resulting in offspring. They will be, for appearance purposes only, the Rulers of the galaxy." Rey laughs out of nerves. The blood in her veins quickens. " Supreme Leader believes having the Jedi will make some planets more… inviting… to him."
"Are you daft?" The words leave her mouth before she makes the conscious effort to form them. She shoots out of her seat, palms slamming down onto the metal surface. "You want me to- to-" She looks to her newly found mother figure for reassurance that there is no way this is happening. The elder woman, however, just shakes her head slightly.
"Remember what we spoke about, Rey."The general urges, even though the young Jedi's face is drenched red with anger.
"You can't be serious, General Organa." Rey tries her best to speak to her with respect. She attempts to calm herself, but her blood will not cease boiling. "You're not really going to make me marry him?"
Leia takes a moment to look into Rey's eyes, she silently pleads with her.
"It's for the Resistance." Is all the elder woman says.
It's not like they won't come for her, Rey tries to comfort herself, Luke promised they would. It's just like being their prisoner, no different-She is chanting in her head again but Rey doesn't quite believe any of the words.
They will come for her.
"If I agree to this " She cannot stress this part enough "then I will have my own rules. " The mediators mumble amongst themselves for a moment.
"And what are your stipulations, miss Rey?"
She's still thinking when they ask. She only knew this was the only time to make conditions and spoke without having any.
"The mask-" She holds out her hand. At first the mask tilts, and he looks slightly taken aback, but Kylo shakes his head.
"When were alone." Rey frowns, but shakes her head. She looks to the closest negotiator. The idea of being alone with him sets her nerves on fire. She wants nothing more than to throw up.
"While I'm your prisoner no harm will come to the resistance. " Rey throws an arm around Leia's shoulders. She will protect The general and the Resistance no matter what. One of the mediators in black crosses his arms.
"We have a very extensive treaty drawn out for General Organa." He says, sliding documents to the mediators in white.
"Anything else, Jedi?" Kylo bites at her. "Don't expect us to be too generous."
Stupid, selfish Kylo Ren. Rey knows its childish but she can't help but curse him. She hates him, more than anything, and he just expects her to-
'I don't want this either foolish girl.' She thinks he spoke, but no one else in the room reacted to him. 'Just keep your head low and play along.' It is that quiet firm voice she had heard before, his real voice. That's when she realizes it's not him, or well- he's not speaking out loud. Her mind is trying to trick her, make her thing he doesn't want this as much as she doesn't. But like every other time her mind has fabricated his voice she shuts it all right out. She can't afford to start feeling bad for him.
"Whatever you want will be at your fingertips, Miss Rey." The squeaky one starts talking again. "You will be treated as Royalty."
"Fine." She nods her consent.
The resistance will come for her.
The two storm troopers that had escorted her in are suddenly helping her up. One takes the lightsaber from her hip and brings it across the room to Kylo. The other grabs her by the bicep and leads her out the room.
She tears her arm out of his grip and throws her arms around Leia.
"Don't forget about me." Her throat is tight as she whispers. Leia returns her embrace tightly.
"We won't, Rey. Your sacrifice will be remembered." The General pulls away from their hug and looks into her eyes. She seems like she has more to say- but the Trooper takes Rey's arm in his fist again and pulls them apart.
"General Organa we have a few papers for you to sign."
She catches the worried look from her mother figure before the door shuts completely behind her.
Leia will come for her. She has too. She promised.
Master Luke will travel the galaxy to save her as soon as they get the news to him- as soon as they find him.
She is escorted directly to a shuttle, where she is handcuffed and placed in a cell.
Rey has a bad feeling about this.