A/N: So, this one was a bit of a beast to finish up. And hopefully it comes off all right. I think I got it conveyed the way I wanted to but not really quite sure how I feel about it :P Thanks to you guys for reading...all two of you so far :P hope again you enjoy.

Chapter Two: Stowaway Pt Two

Elara bit her lower lip and tried to fight her way out from under Ren's grip.

Just a touch, she told herself, as though it were so simple to keep the grip on herself and keep things tight to the chest with someone thumbing through everything she was trying not to think of. It was true what they said how his strength; the strength of the force in him and how it was like nothing else, how it took could take you over in at the bat of an eye; as if it were no more effort to him than simply drawing breath. And with every passing second he dug himself deeper and deeper into her mind like a virus; some foreign being tearing holes right through and weaving around whatever it needed with far reaching tentacles. Every second he dug himself deeper, and every second she felt her grip on things starting to slip away.

"Your parents…they were are part of The Rebellion." He cooed at her side, easily pressing past the walls she attempted to throw in between him and what he wanted to know. "You father was a pilot...you never met him but your mother…she told you all about him...every story, every praise...how much he would have loved you...how proud you would have been able to make him had he survived.

She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed the lump in her throat, forcing back the swell of emotion. So swiftly once again he had picked out the first and weakest spot he could find to break her down. Elara didn't know why she was surprised, weakness was weakness and she above anyone else knew that it was to be exploited. That dull ache, that constant emptiness in her chest she could never ward off for long. Weakness was weakness, and while she wouldn't expect anything less of him, it didn't mean it didn't catch her off guard.

"Irrelevant." Elara choked out her best attempt at rebuttal. "You're wasting your time."

"No." Ren dismissed her deflection. "I don't think so."

"Think anything you'd like…it doesn't make it true."

"What if I feel it? What then?" His demeanor softened slightly. Fingertips ghosting lightly against her skin, drawing a sharp flinch at the point of her wound. "I feel it in you...I feel the pain that's left behind...How you try so hard to hide it, to shut it out, that sadness that's been settled inside of you for so long...You can lie to yourself you you can't lie to me." Strange consolation passed his lips. "Don't be ashamed…it's alright."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you?"

"No."

"You don't lay awake at night thinking of everything you never had? Or wonder how everything could have been so very different. How happy you could be if only…"

"Stop." She spat, shifting in the chair as much as she could craning in the chair as much as she could to avert her gaze.

"You reminded her of him...every day." He continued, tone cold and flat once more. "Every time, you spoke...every time you looked at her."

"Shut up."

"Every time you smiled you remind your mother."

"Stop."

Elara flexed her hands against her restraints in silent protest, shaking in her effort to shut him out; shut everything of him out. His proverbial fingers grazing through her mind, the eerily calm and hypnotic sound of his voice and the way his breath grazed against her neck from underneath his mask. This is what he wanted, she tried to remind herself, this is what he wanted. It wasn't just the way he could so easily pull everything he wanted from her thoughts, it was the inclusive experience of the entire ordeal. Breaking her down, the fear, the pain, the anger. He got off on it. It was some sick game that was only going to get worse and worse the longer it went on. This is what he wanted, to whittle her down to nothing and hadn't the will to fight back at all. Every rise of emotion and every empty denial from her lips, she was playing right into his hands and she knew it but she was powerless to stop it no matter how hard she pressed back.

"You look so much like him...you act so much like him. No wonder she couldn't even bare to look at you. She resented you for it…hated you for it."

"I said stop." She seethed again, as though it would do any good.

"So young…so confused."

Ren stiffened slightly, a shift in the air and a shift in the mood perceived that he couldn't help project right back on to her. His collected temperament cracked and gave way to anger, rage even, that began to course through his veins; whether it was of his own accord or Elara's own emotions he merely adopted.

"She sent you away." He spat, disdain coloring his voice and emanating into her. "You...her only child...she sent you away without a second thought because you looked like your father...because of who you were and how it made her sick...as though you had a choice. She sent you away...your own mother...and you still care?"

"No."

"Liar.

Elara's heart raced against her chest and her eyes fell heavy as her vision clouded around her; raw emption surged through her, climbing higher and higher the longer he stayed within the confines of her thoughts. She'd never felt anything like it; not even once. It was amazing, the strangest blend of conflicting sensation all at the same time. Calming, comforting despite the foundation of the emotion. Heady, and dizzying, some sort of strange exchange that was enough to fall into without any regard and from which one might never return. A warm gentle feeling that blanketed and over took every ounce of her, just as it over took him. She could feel it in him too; another surprise to be had. Eyes locked in a silent stare as they both swam in it and took it in so deeply without a care for anything else. The entire galaxy could have imploded at that exact moment and either of them would have so much as blinked. Deeper and deeper she sank into whatever was taking hold of her body and soul. It was a like a drug; intoxicating and she just couldn't shake it and it scared her more than anything else in the world ever had.

It was heady, dizzying and the best feeling she could have ever asked for. But beyond all else, it was terrifying.

"S-Stop." She half whispered, barely able form a coherent thought let alone speak it aloud.

"She sent you away...and you still call her a mother…"

"Stop!" Elara's tiny, shaky voice reverberated off the walls around them.

Strained, shaken, and spent as her strength was, Elara forced herself to pull free of whatever had enraptured her and bound her to him so unrelentingly. She snapped through it, willfully forced herself to shake the unshakeable and in an instant she slammed her mind closed to him so forcefully she rocked back against the chair; shaking its structure roughly and snapping herself painfully against the restraints.

The bond was broken.

Heavy silence loomed in the air. Unspoken confusion left hanging between the both of them.

"Such fight in you." Ren spoke first after what seemed like an eternity, gathering himself as discreetly and as much as he could without her taking notice.

Cool, calm, and collected once more, he continued despite the unanswered questions nagging in the back of his mind. No one ever resisted him, it wasn't even anything he had ever questioned before; no one had ever managed to resist him, let alone force him out mid probe. Not unless they were force sensitive that is; then they could at least stand a chance at resisting. But this wasn't what that was, or at least not as far as he could tell. Even if it was he couldn't sense it in her at all. Even if it was the force, it was so weak in her there was no way she should be able to push him out like that; she wouldn't have even known it even existed let alone known how to use it. This was something different, much different and the likes of which he had never before seen. It fuelled him to press on, filling him with even more resolve to scratch past the surface and figure out just what exactly made her tick in ever sense of the word.

"What was that?" Elara muttered, shakily a trying to steel herself as well, only to result in seeming much more visibly rattled.

"Such resistance...such defiance." He skillfully avoided the question to which had no answer. "You fight so valiantly. It's admirable...impressive even. It could be so easy if only you'd let me in."

She glared at him wordlessly. Unwilling to give even an inch more than what she had; not after what had just happened.

"You're hiding something."

"I'm n-"

"You are." He cut her off. Intrigue in his voice giving way to that familiar edge as he dared her to oppose him once more. "And now you're going to give it to me.

He moved closer to her, fingers outstretched once more, ready to drive past her defenses and bend her will to his.

"Fuck you!" She growled back through clenched teeth, pulling away from him as best she could. Rattling the chair again as a deep seated fear washed over her again. "Don't you fucking touch me!"

"Give it to me."

"I won't."

He hadn't the patience or time for games, especially not now that his curiosity was piqued beyond any level that could go without being satiated. He hadn't the patience or time for games, especially at the hands of some random, stubborn girl who defied him and didn't expect to be dealt swift and painful retribution.

"Give it to me."

"No."

He lunged towards her. Holding her tightly in place with no escape and in one swift move he seared his way through her thoughts again; fingers pressed tight against her skull right at the point of her wound to split the skin for extra force of discomfort. She yelped and squirmed under his touch, shrinking against the chair to no avail this time. White hot pain seared through her head. What Elara had thought was horrible before was but a gentle display of his ability and there would be no forgiving touch at his hand now as he forced his way through her thoughts. Ripping through her, Ren grabbed at straws and followed each proverbial breadcrumb on the trail of what he so desperately needed to find.

Flashes in rapid succession he pried free from her.

Flashes of her and her mother.

Flashes of the torment, the turmoil and the devastation she felt at being cast aside so easily.

Flashes of everything in her life that drew some sort of raw emotion that could easily be manipulated and used against her.

But it was all useless. Nothing he could filter out was what he needed to know. Even more, nothing he could filter out was what he wanted see.

No matter how much she crumbled now, she still resisted him with everything she had. Fought against him with every ragged breath that ripped through her body; it didn't matter if it was all for naught. She was strong. Despite all else, any weaknesses aside and anything he could provoke in her, she still had strength against all the pressure that ramped higher and higher the longer he had her. That much he would give her credit for. She was strong against him in a way that few others could ever attempt to be.

She was strong against him, but he was stronger.

He dug his fingers against her skull in a little more; display of a fresh surge of his own will wielded against her as he scoured through with even more fore and eliciting even more pain from her. It was almost more than she could bear, she was at the bring and he knew it; he felt it and used it to fuel himself on relentlessly. Foggy images brought a little more clearly to him the closer he go to what she had locked away concealed deep enough to be pulled out only at her wish and only when she decided it served her rightly; as if she had any say in the matter. Closer, he inched. Ignoring her internal cries for him to relent and shuttout out the screams that echoed through his ears. He had her against the wall, knife against her throat and in either full stubbornness or full stupidity she wouldn't let her guard down even well knowing that what he was able to glean from the muddled mess wouldn't serve her any better lest she gave him everything.

This was not her first visit to The Finalizer, that much he was able to grasp amid the haze, though very little else. Snapshots of some situation of ambiguity and little context; shrouded figures and muted thoughts of conversation. Hints of fear, and doubt and an intertwined shame to bear. She had been with The Order, that much he was certain of, no lie or false memory to suggest his trust to swing to his side; she was honest as the walls she kept closed around herself started to fall brick by brick. But she hid so much, even a little revelation to gain his trust was all but lost on him. Moreover when her train of thought shifted. She had been of the order, yes. But beyond that there was more. Older thoughts, she was younger as he saw it. Solidly aligned with the Resistance. A frightened child, or at least she may as well have been. Little else, there was, that he could pull out from that aspect either. So much abstruseness in both situations, they tied together in a tightly bound knot; intermingled and tangled without a sold way to sort out the mess.

She was hiding something. Many things it seemed.

She was hiding something. Some enticing that could make her either a solidified threat in her presence or a surprisingly realized asset.

She was hiding something. Or something was being hidden, even from her. Some closed door in her mind. She didn't know what she hid from him. It had been wiped clean from her mind, or shoved so far into the depths of thought and memory. A secret something he could still sense and held his interest more exponentially than uncovering all else.

That secret something.

The itch in the back of his mind that priced every time he looked at her.

He would have that too, before he was finished with her whether she liked or not; that secret something that sparked his attention. That secret something that would would be scratched out in time at his hands even if it took burning through everything else he could find with reckless abandon.

Digging for more now, however, would serve no purpose. She'd had enough, more than he expected from her, and almost too much for her to bear. Anything more would likely kill her, and the mystery would die with her. Reluctantly, begrudgingly almost, he bit back his frustration at the lack of resolution and lifted his hand from her head, breaking the bond again; this time his own mind swirling in its own right. He had done all he could for the time being. She was shattered before him, a cowering wreck of an already fragile little bird at the pity of her host; if there was any to be had.

Ren may have not had everything he needed to know, but he was well on his way to being able to reach out and take it with a single touch and a single word. How and when was just a matter of detail and strategy.

"Oh, you're hiding something."

Ren took a moment to settle himself, spent in his own right just as much as she crooked his finger and trailed across her sweat damped brow, dragging it downwards to rest under her chin and turn her head towards him as she struggled to choke back emotion.

"And I will have it." He half whispered, a melodic lilt in his voice. He dipped her head to hers, the chill of his mask gazing her cheek as he left her with his final assurance before he took his leave. "You will give it to me...you pretty little thing."

Another lingering stare, his eyes burned into hers from behind his mas. Shaken as she was, broken as she was, there was still that spark of defiance. A flame within that apparently could not be doused no matter what state she was in. She was a challenge, but she was a challenge that he would win.

"You're stronger than you think...but you'll never keep it from me. You can take that as a promise."

Ren rose again to take his to take his leave and turned his back. With a flick of his hand her restraints were set open and she all but dropped to the floor as he strode towards the exit of the room; all physical strength she had escaping her.

"See that she's tended to." He shot a causal order to one of his men standing silent just within the doorway. "No one gets to her without my say."

"Yes, sir."

One last look, a sideways glance cast over his shoulder at the unassuming girl who stood her ground where so many others had failed. One last look at the girl who remained a glaring question mark in his mind. One last look at her and with one last uttered threat, he would be gone.

"I will break you."