Rey awoke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright in a panic. Every muscle in her body shrieked in protest. Eyes wild, she desperately attempted to make some sense of her surroundings. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breathing was much too loud and erratic for her to hear much else.
At first, she could see nothing. It was very dark, and also very cold. She imagined she was in some sort of detention cell. Her heart seized in her throat as the implications of imprisonment hit her. She screwed her eyes shut and racked her brain for any clues as to how she came to be in a cell as she began slowly to feel her way about.
As her breathing slowed, she sat up on her knees and made her way forward, keeping her hands on the floor. Her fingertips searched for purchase and found none on the smooth metal floor. Several feet from where she'd started, she encountered a piece of course, dark fabric on the floor and ran it in between her fingers. She lifted it to her face, as if she could determine its origins by smelling it, or by the feel of it against her cheek. As she puzzled over the fabric, her breaths calmed enough for her to finally process another set of noises. Breaths deeper than hers. The fabric began to slide through her fingers as if a living thing, and her face froze.
"You're awake," intoned an amused-sounding male voice only a few inches from her face, "and you've got my cloak."
Rey gasped and thrust her body away from the voice, kicking blindly and making no contact in her terror. "Who's there?" she hissed as her hands searched for something, anything, to use as a weapon. Unsurprisingly, she found nothing.
A deep chuckle came from the voice. "Relax. This time, I'm on your side. Promise."
All of Rey's instincts prompted her backwards, away from the speaker, but she had very little desire to find herself with her back to a wall. She thrust herself to her feet, finding herself very sore and her muscles reluctant to respond. "I asked who was there," she demanded, hoping that her voice sounded stronger than she felt.
She heard rustling and assumed that her companion was also drawing himself up.
"How long have you been watching me sleep? Planning this?" she hissed into the darkness. Her eyes were adjusting, but oh, so slowly.
The voice snorted. "What else was I supposed to be doing? You'd have gouged my eyes out if I'd attempted to wake you. And please, tell me how I'm to blame for you hitting your head? I'm not your enemy, at least not right now." She could practically hear the sneer present in his voice.
He was entirely too close for Rey's liking. She suddenly recognized the voice, somewhere deep in her gut, but she hoped and prayed to any god listening that she was wrong. She could now pick up a faint outline of his figure and realized that she likely couldn't see him because of his dark clothing. All she could tell in the darkness was that he towered over her, furthering her desire to get as far away from him as possible.
"Tell me what happened. How did I get stuck in here with you? And tell me your name. I'm not going to ask again," she warned. She swore she could see him smile in the shadows and scowled in his direction.
"You know who I am, Rey. Don't be stupid. I am Kylo Ren, First Knight of the Knights of Ren, heir to the Sith dynasty and grandson to Darth Vader, though I'd suspect not much of that matters in here. We're both prisoners, as I keep telling you. We're both trapped, although I don't yet know by who. After the earthquake, you must have fallen and hit your head. I was abducted while receiving care for my injuries." He stepped even closer and Rey's curiosity outweighed her fear; she squinted up into his face. She could feel his body heat coming off him in waves. "You're not a bad saber duelist, by the way," he added, his smirk evident in his tone.
Rey took a chance and threw a punch with all of her weight behind it. She'd meant it to connect with his throat, but he dodged her with ease and just grabbed her fist in one hand, holding it in the air. She struggled, annoyed with herself for not foreseeing this outcome.
He leaned down, face to hers, as she tried desperately to pull her hand away from him. She found she could make out most of his features, the most prominent being the ugly scar slashed across his face and down his jaw. His face twisted into a sneer as he considered her in turn. Her heart leaped into her throat even as some part of her blushed under his scrutiny.
"Admiring your handiwork, are you?" he muttered. "Like I said, not bad. I elected to not have it removed, not that the med staff had the chance to even try. It'll give me a nice reminder to not underestimate my enemies; obviously, even untrained desert brats can get in a lucky shot or two."
"You're scum, you filthy traitor," she seethed through her teeth, working up the courage to spit in his face. She saw his eyes widen and darken with thinly veiled rage.
He smiled, and it was then that her stomach truly sank. He grinned at her as he wiped saliva off his cheek, pausing to consider before wiping his hand down her own cheek. Finally, he released her wrist, flinging her away from him. While she stumbled to her knees, he gracefully swept to the floor, though she noticed he strongly favored his left side.
"I think you'll come to regret that, scavenger," he murmured under his breath. Rey dared not to move, even to wipe the cold saliva off of her cheek. Yes, she mused, I believe I'm regretting it already.
Hi friends! I decided to go ahead and post the second chapter since the first one is so short. From here on out, they'll all be about this length-somewhere around a thousand words. Length is not my strong suit, I'll apologize for that in advance. As always, make sure to leave me a review if you enjoy, or if there's something that jumps out to you that needs improvement! Although if you've got a nitpick about my grammar, I'd prefer you take that to my private inbox ;)
much love
