"Kylo." He said between bites of moon-squirrel that he was decimating at the speed of light. It was like he hadn't eaten anything in weeks. Which, might've been the case. Who knows how long he was floating out there? "Kylo Ren."
Aurelia poked at another moon-squirrel in the fire with her fingers, flipping it over. She knew the exact textured to have perfectly cooked moon-squirrel without it tasting charred, which happened all too often due to the high fat content of the small animal, and this one was almost there. "Where did you come from?"
The loud, ravenous chewing stopped. "That's need-to-know." He said finally.
Aurelia bit her lip. This man was unusual. She could feel the Force pulse off of him in waves, even as weak as he was. His wounds were odd. And everywhere on his thin frame. Burns. He was extremely powerful and the power fed off of his reckless emotions, she could deduce that much. But there was something else that she could feel. Something off from the impotent rage that burned inside of him. Pain?
She pulled the small rodent off the fire and laid it on Kylo's plate. "Sorry it's not much." She said quietly as she sat down on the edge of the bed, changing the subject. "There isn't many life forms that's edible on this rock."
"It's fine." He said between bites.
There was a lapsed silence. Aurelia could hear Kylo's heartbeat and her own quickened pace to match. There was a push of the Force from Kylo, the third time since he had regained consciousness to dig in her head. Aurelia threw up a shield and he backed off. "Can I ask you something," Kylo said finally. "About your eyes?"
Aurelia could feel the heat in her face. "Yeah, I guess they must look pretty odd."
"Can you not see them?"
She cocked her head to the side. "I can't see anything, actually."
There was silence again. "I couldn't even tell."
She shrugged. "I'm pretty good at taking care of myself. I've been doing it for awhile."
"I have to go. I have people looking for me." There was a shift and she could feel the stranger lift himself to his feet, slower this time, he let himself get his bearings. Loud footsteps made its way across her hut to where her chair sat with his personal belongings on it.
"What hit you?" She asked. "It looked like a pretty deep wound."
There was some silence. "A bowcaster. A weapon that Wookies use."
"I've never met a Wookie." Aurelia regarded. She wondered what they look like. They were probably big to wield a weapon powerful enough to make a wound like that.
There was a ripple in the Force. The Force shield that Kylo Ren had up wavered as he regarded Aurelia one last time. Aurelia seized this opportunity to learn just a tiny bit more about the strange house guest and pierced the chink in his shield with her own powers.
Flashes of faces. Pain. Struggle. Troops in white helmets. Red and blue lights crackling together in heat and energy. Failure. Disgrace. Murderer. Failure. Disgrace. Murderer.
"Skywalker." Aurelia said suddenly, grabbing on to something familiar in the sea of swirling memories. "I know that name."
His perfectly balanced shield had gone down in a moment of weakness. Weakness because of foolish sentiment. He had also underestimated this girl's power. A mistake he would not make again. He pushed Aurelia up against the wall of her stone hut with a gesture of his gloved hand. She pushed back with her own power, throwing up a shield with the Force and he was unable to completely paralyze her, but he did stun her.
"How dare you." He hissed under his breath as he pinned her against the wall. Her white eyes were wide and she struggled against the grip. "How dare you enter my mind."
"I'm sorry." She choked against the hold. "I'm sorry." There was a gathering of Force and Aurelia broke the hold on her with a single burst of energy. She threw up a strong shield and and opened her feet to a solid stance behind it.
"Where have you heard that name?"
"From my master."
Master? "What master? The only known Jedi master is Luke Skywalker and I-,"
"No." She said, all pretenses to defense were gone and moved over to a small chest that sat against the wall. "My master is Sabla-Mandibu, who was a Jedi Healer in the days of the Republic." She pulled out a holocron and set it on the floor. A life-sized Miraluka woman appeared in blue light. She was clad in a robe and had a goggle-like covering over where her eyes should be. Aurelia sat on her knees and played with the holocron until the image shuddered and then started to talk.
One case in particular of note was the treatment of Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker after the battle of Geonosis. After sustaining a lightsaber wound that severed his right arm at the elbow, we were able to heal the injury at the severed site. Paired with his own meditative abilities, the would healed at triple the normal rate. However, it is interesting to note that Force healing does not regenerate lost tissue-
Aurelia turned off the holocron, the artificial figure shuddered and disappeared. "It's an archive of all of her cases and how the Force was used to heal them. Maybe it could help you like it helped me."
Kylo fought the repulsed feeling of listening to a Jedi Knight from a hundred years ago drone on and on about Force healing. Instead he focused on Aurelia who had braided her long, long hair over one shoulder. Her Force shield was still up, but she showed no sign of caution around him as she rose to her feet and stood in front of him with the powered-off holocron. "You can have it." She said, offering it with both of her small, white hands.
"But it's yours." He protested.
"I've listened to it so much that I feel like I've gotten anything I could out of it. You could perhaps use it to learn about this Skywalker? He's mentioned a couple of times. Apparently he was pretty powerful, but also pretty reckless and was in the infirmary a lot."
This was a new side of Darth Vader that Kylo had not heard about. Everyone that had ever known him in person was dead or knew him only as Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith. Even his uncle didn't know anything other than Darth Vader. There were no stories of his childhood. He knew he was a Jedi at one point and then turned to the Dark Side after realizing his own potential. He knew he probably wouldn't be able to use this information, but at least he could learn about his grandfather's history. And maybe his history could help unlock the power that Darth Vader had. The power that Kylo was trying to emulate.
You will never be as good as your grandfather.
"Thank you." Kylo said, picking up the holocron.
"I apologize again for prying." She tipped her head down to her feet. "I overstepped my bounds. Whatever your story is, it's yours to share at your will. However, I also understand your pain."
Failure. Disgrace. Murderer. You can't ever escape this pain.
The glimmer of rage at Aurelia's last statement burned like an ember. Pain. Pain was an understatement. It was like a constant hell of being caught between the Light and the Dark. The struggle of not being good enough. The pain of abandonment. The pain of conscience. The pain of duty. It wasn't pain. It was torture. And Kylo Ren lived it every second of every day. "You don't know pain." He answered, trying to not lash out again at his weak and disabled hostess. He could just kill her and be done with it. And then use her silly hut as a base and wait for the First Order to find him.
She cocked her head, a curly lock of hair falling down around her ear, and the idea of killing her vanished. He couldn't do that. It was not necessary to the mission to eliminate her.
Maybe he could recruit her? That was an idea. She was powerful even with her crude use of the Force. He could unlock the potential in her and they could destroy the new Jedi order and destroy the Light Side once and for all. He would be the Master and she would be the apprentice. Snoke would be pleased with having another powerful Force-wielder on the side of the First Order. "What has this holocron taught you?" He said as he pulled off his gloves with his teeth. The First Order was going to have to wait. They would understand.
"Healing mostly, but the importance of shields. Force telepathy. Force telekinesis. Force Sight to a point. Sabla-Mandibu was trained in combat, but she didn't really use it, so she doesn't really discuss it."
Kylo pulled off his boots and stripped his chest armor off. He threw another bit of wood in the fire and sat down cross-legged next to it, warming his hands against it.
"I thought you were leaving?" Aurelia asked and shifted her weight. The silver hoop that adorned the upper part of her arm gleamed from the light. With the fire dancing off her skin, she looked like spirit from folktales. Kylo reminded himself not to get caught up in aesthetic and to keep his mind on his new mission.
"I want to learn about your powers."
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "You want to learn about my powers." She repeated. "That seems awfully convenient after the confrontation we just had."
"My side still hurts." Kylo said, changing tactics to get her to trust him.
She snorted through her nose. "Because it's not fully healed yet. You were passing out on my floor twenty-four standard hours ago."
"Well, I think I need more healing." Kylo knew he was playing on her emotions. This is what she was skilled at. Her selflessness superseded her instinct. She knew that she probably shouldn't trust him, but she was going to have to to heal him.
"You are the slimiest person I've ever met." She said and shook her head. However, crossed the threshold and knelt down next to Kylo. Her hands were warm as she pulled his undershirt up and revealed the bandaged wound. "You've reopened it." She sighed, a frustrated tone in her voice and she peeled the bandage off.
Kylo hissed at the pain of the air stinging it and the memory of Chewbacca, his father's best friend and co-pilot shooting him. It caused rage and hate to stir inside of him. He closed his eyes and fought the urge to destroy everything within a three-meter radius, until Aurelia soothed it with her healing powers.
"It seems like it's starting to get infected." She said quietly and replaced the bandage. "I'm going to have to go into to the woods and find something to stop the infection from spreading."
"I'll go with you." He said. Even with blank eyes, Aurelia still managed to shoot him a look that said Not in your life, buddy. "I insist. I can bring back wood or something."
He watched her contemplate his offer. "Okay. But move slowly and no bending."
Sorry this story probably sucks major Rodian appendage! Although if you want to review that's cool. Also, tell me how many times you seen TFA so far? That'd be tight.