I am One With the Force

28 ABY

Rey blinked her eyes wearily and tried to lift up her eyebrows already retaliating and trying to tempt her back to her sleep. But from this day on things weren't the same as always. Not only does she have a guest with magic powers that takes a lifetime to understand and master, but also a mission told from his own words. She bounced off her mattress, and woke the asleep Leo up as well as herself.

"Holy...! What time is it?" was the first thing Leo asked when the sudden rude awakening came down to him.

"About half past six. I know what you're gonna say." Rey replied after catching sight of his slightly irritated look.

"...that it's too early for me?" Leo asked as he sat up from the layers of carpet Rey made for him. "In fact, I think I slept in. The Jedi Order were always early birds."

He got off from the mattress and reached for his lightsabers supposingly holstered on his back, only to find that he placed them on Rey's half bent desk so as not to let them keep him awake all night. Instead of clamping them back to his belt, he handed one to Rey, and held the other with his free hand.

"So, are you going to help me or not?" He asked sternly, knowing that the lives of Master Luke and many of his younglings are at stake. I will do it alone, he thought, shall I ever be so unfortunate to have to stand alone against this invisible evil.

Lucky for Rey she had already went through Leo's request before she passed out last night. "I might lose my life over all this. And I have to wait for my parent to return here. I know they will."

Leo sighed in despair, but of all the padawans and younglings he knew the best that respecting others' decision is a must-do under any circumstances. He was about to say his farewell to Rey and take off into the desert when Rey's voice made him halt.

"But they probably won't be happy either if I let someone get killed." She added, instantly reviving Leo's inner spirit.

"I take it as a yes?" He asked enthusiastically.

Rey simply nodded.

"But we aren't going anywhere without some practice." Leo suggested and tuned his to non-lethal mode. Rey stared at the boy for a second, then fiddled with her borrowed lightsaber until she figured out how to ignite it. Leo helped her tune it to the right mode, and hurriedly got into a Vaapad stance, ready for any attacks the newblood Rey might come up with.

"Ready?" Leo asked.

"Born ready." Rey returned confidently. As a matter of fact handling a close quarter weapon wasn't new for the scavenger. Every once in a while she would have to beat off other scavengers with her Jo stick, just to keep her fingers and her findings intact.

Leo quickly rotated his wrists and slammed the saber onto the dust, barely missing Rey. She swung her lightsaber to Leo's left arm to retaliate, only to be blocked when Leo freed his right hand and deflected her attack with his other arm. He raised his right arm and managed to lift the rather skinny Rey in the air, shocking her and ceasing her attempts to attack him.

"This is the kind of enemy we're facing, maybe even stronger." He released Rey and allowed her to drop feet first. Rey pointed her blade forward directly at Leo and made a beeline for his chest, yet Leo was smart enough to dodge and slash Rey's back, missing on purpose to allow her to understand the way of the lightsaber, not getting electrocuted by the lightsaber now in stun mode.

"Winning doesn't always mean attacking head-on." Leo explained and lent Rey a helpful hand. She hurriedly got into an assault stance she came up with on her own, and was ready to electrocute Leo when he suddenly dashed forward. Rey instinctively got out of the way, and allowed herself to gain the upper hand and hit Leo's blind spots. "You see, sometimes you have to get out of the way."

Rey was enlightened, and followed this new principle until her blade clashed with Leo's, their eyes staring at each other excitedly. She's a fast learner, even if it would take all of her wits to master that skill. She intentionally slipped out of her position, causing Leo to fall and allowing her to call her first win in hours of vigorous practice under the blazing sun.

"Finally." She simply said as she pointed the sharp end at Leo's face. Leo acknowledged by simply nodding his head, and got back on his feet with his sweaty palm still holding his lightsaber tight as ever. "You're a scavenger. Don't you need to go make a living or something?" Leo couldn't help questioning.

"Indeed I do." Rey answered, just as Leo feared. "But don't worry. I have so much rations I can go on for weeks. The salvaging can wait."

She looked up at the sky, only to be nearly blinded by the ultraviolet fired from the sun some parsecs away. "Besides, I might get heatstroke if I go." She continued.

"Good to know. Speaking of heatstroke my chest is burning too." Leo used his shirt as a fan and tried to cool himself down, but was heated up again in a split second thanks to the sun. "Man, I was just freezing to death last night!"

"I know, right." Rey replied and decided that it's best to stay inside the walker for now, until dusk. She led Leo back into the Hellhound 2, and disappeared from the vast desert of Jakku.

Concealed in the notorious underworld of a distant planet of Coruscant was a chamber with no light but several candles that have been burning for days. A door made out of rock was lifted by a short figure in a cloak fit to his size. On his belt was a comlink, and the sacred weapon only Jedi were ever allowed to carry.

The boy hopped off the ladder leading to the deeper levels of the chamber, and set foot on an array of red circles glowing under his boots. He kneeled with his eyes focused on the ground, awaiting the hologram in front of him to be activated.

Soon enough his wait was rewarded with the image of a rather old man with a deformed face and an obvious scar off his right eye. The image was at least five times larger than the boy, but even if it was ten times the boy would not be afraid or have any reason to afraid. He answers to this old man, secretly.

"You summoned me." The boy greeted.

"Indeed I did. How are your preparations?" A deep and loud voice played from the other side of the chamber.

"Everything's going as planned, master. As for now you and I are the only ones who know." The boy replied, his eyes still glued on the rock floor.

"Very well. It won't be necessary to come to me. The next time we meet, it will be in person." At last the image vanished, leaving the boy commonly called Kylo Ren staring at the circles plotting his next move.