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Kylo Ren
He draws the glove from his pale hands. It's still there. It's always there. Fayne's ring. And it's not just any ring either. She made it when she was only five. It was her lucky ring. And she never slept without it and she never let it go. Until for some reason, she fell in love with him. It's some kind of wood, tarnished with this sleek preservative paint. He knows it's a risk. If that pompous fool Hux saw it, or anyone else, they would know the truth. He hasn't forgotten Fayne. Even though he should have! She ran from him! Chose the Rebellion over what he could have offered her!
He shouldn't love her anymore! She's weakness. And despite copious amounts of effort, she is still bothering him. That woman is a thorn in his side. And even worse – if he could go back in time, if he could go right back to the moment he first saw her, he would still do it all over again. Now that is being foolish, isn't it?
It is sometime later that it comes to him. In a moment when his wound, the filthy wound that the scavenger girl inflicted. She was good. Very good. But as is always the case with his wife, whenever she's there, he's . . . conflicted. Distracted. He should have killed that girl. That Rey. And he didn't. Because she was there . . .
His mind wanders to the scavenger. Rey. He has felt her too. Felt her power growing. Even their connection through the Force. She is so obsessed with the idea of turning him that it may just work. Get Snoke to focus on another target. A plan begins to form . . .
Fayne Dae
"Why do you love me?"
She remembers almost laughing. "What?"
Ben turns towards her and she catches herself. There's something in his eyes. Something she hasn't seen before. Doubt. And . . . and fear. But it's not fear, so much as being resigned to it. He looked so wonderfully handsome in the morning air with his dark hair and deep green eyes, always thinking, always dreaming.
"I know what they say about me," Ben sighs. "About what I can do. The other students fear me. They say I'm a monster."
"You're not a monster!" She remembers snapping a bit fiercer than she intended to. "You're not a monster Ben. You're fighting a battle. An inner battle, and if we're being honest, who isn't? And besides, I don't fear you."
"You should."
"No I shouldn't . . .and you know why?" She kisses him on the nose before he can come up with another depressing excuse. "Because you're my Ben. Because I know you, and even if you and me ever, ever got separated, one thing's for sure."
He was stroking her hand as it cupped his cheek. "Go on."
"We'd always come back for each other."
Sometimes, when you wake up, it takes time to remember where you are. That's what it likes this time. Cold. And warm all at the same time. Her eyes snap open. She was dreaming again. It's not hard to guess about who, and she doesn't want to know.
All she can think of is Leia. And Poe. And Rey. And Elle. Where is she?
Her hand reaches out to touch the bitterness of the morning air. She's in an X Wing, just resting there on nothing and all around her is nothing but ice and cold. Her breath spills forth from her mouth as her chest rattles trying to gulp in fresh air.
"Where am I?" she whispers. Her hands scrabble over the controls of the X Wing. She was sent out. It doesn't say from where. To this planet. Designation XX – A. She curses. The computer is fried.
A howling cuts through the mist, right to her ears, right to her heart. Whatever has happened here was a mistake. Leia would never have sent her here, but one thing is for sure, if she stays where she is, she will die here.
The howl rings out again. Tugging her cloak around her, she grabs the emergency kit from the cockpit, grasps the blaster and takes off running.
And so it continues. On nothing but intuition. She can't explain why. She can't explain how. But she stops. And she turns. Something . . . something she can't quite place.
"Fayne . . ."
At her ears. At her feet. "Hello?!" she cries loudly. There's something coming through the mist. It looks like a person, two arms, two feet.
"Beware . . ." Still she does nothing. Doesn't move. Doesn't cry. Like her feet have forgotten how to move. "Beware him . . . Fayne . . . go!"
She realises too late, what it is. Flying. Spinning along. It's slippy, and she swears she can feel something moving underneath the ice. The X Wing crashes and burns behind her, she can see the flames descending around her, smell the gas burning, and then she hears the roar.
"Come on! Come on!" Chiding herself. Does she want to die? Heck no. But there's nothing! Nothing up ahead, nothing to either side, she'll just keep running and then it'll wait for her to tire out. Wait for her to give up and then . . .
Her tears slice through the fog as the flesh peels from her back and she falls to the ground. She catches a brief glimpse of the gargantuan thing above her as she rolls missing another blow. Oh how it burns! She fires a shot with the blaster but misses. Tumbling to her feet, rolling up.
A wampa. It's clear now. It's about the only thing. Standing over ten feet tall, its filthy fur a matted mix of tiny bones and specks of red, with its lifeless green orbs and jagged claws. Like she ever stood a chance.
Blast after blast, unloading the blaster. She's backing up and backing up but the monster is not stopping. If anything, it's laughing. Because when the click signals empty, they both know what's going to happen.
In those few moments, all she can hear is the beating of her treacherous heart. Her hand has already grasped the knife, already, but she's starting to go faint, and she can feel her blood dropping from her shredded back, to the ground.
A BOOM! The ice explodes into a million pieces. One minute the wampa is there. The next it's wailing! A horrible sound, a shrieking sound! Fayne is already gone She makes the mistake of turning back. The dorsal fin of whatever was underneath the ice is at least twice her height. That coupled with her fear of water, and she has never gone from so tired to so energised in her life.
But now it is time to see. What is really beyond the mist. If there is anywhere. If there is any hope. For already the ground beneath her feet is shaking. She takes a deep breath, prays that this doesn't go horribly and horrendously wrong and casts out her hands.
"If you let me die," Fayne whispers, "I can't save Ben . . . if you want me to save Ben . . . you need to help me!"
Heat. Wind. And fire. In her desperation, in her fear, she never realised that her eyes were closed. And now . . . there it stands before her. A temple. Suspended in shadow, a pyramid. With a red peak at the top. And the symbols running up along the broken walls. Red. Like hatred. Like them. A Sith Temple.
