Pain was all she could feel. Though, really, she should be used to it by now. One would think, anyways. She quickly gathered herself and scrambled off the ground, eyes cast downward to a spot on the floor, trying hard to ignore everything around her. At some point she realised the man who had walked in was in fact Hux, and she heard Hux and Snoke conversing, but she didn't pay any attention. Sound turned to buzzing, and time passed slowly. Way too slowly.
"You're dismissed," Snoke snarled before the hologram shut off. And that was all Rey needed to spring back to life. Turning quickly on her heels, she half ran out of the meeting area.
To no surprise of hers, Hux quickly followed behind her, "Well aren't you going to at least congratulate me?" Rey looked him up and down with that stoic look of hers. If she could, she would obliterate him where he stood, his smug little smile and cocky stance all gone within seconds.
Hux took her twisted face from the pain in her arm as to mean she didn't understand. Which was all well and true, because she had no idea what he was talking about. "Starkiller is well underway," he chimed giddily. "The Supreme Leader is happy with my efforts."
Rey, with no acknowledgement to his success, wordlessly began to walk away.
"You-" Hux began, but the poor bloke wasn't allowed another word out of his irritating mouth. She reached out her right hand and cut off the air supply in his throat, and lifted him slightly off the ground "Choose your next words very carefully," she warned.
As calmly as she could collect herself, Rey released Hux, and he hit the ground with a thud. The ginger joke clutched at his throat as he gasped for precious air to re-enter his lungs.
He yelled out something to her, but she paid him no mind. Making her way to her quarters, she swung the door open widely. First thing she saw, her desk chair, she kicked it over. She hugged her left arm close to her chest as her other hand flew to her head, grasping at her hair in frustration.
Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Skywalker, Skywalker, Skywalker! How she hated that name!
She whirled around to knock everything on her desk off in a fit of rage, and swung her staff to slice through it. She continued to smash and smash it until there was nothing left but splinters.
"Who cares about Skywalker?!" She shouted into the open air of the empty room. The thing is, she knew why. She knew why finding him was important. They needed him gone. The one person who was holding the dark side back from it's full potential. Holding her back from her full potential.
She panted heavily, and with a exhausted sigh slumped down on the edge of her bed. In her mind, the events from the night played in her head. The burning village, the rain of gunfire, the bodies that fell lifeless to the ground in one sweep. The children in the hut. The children who had no one, who were at all loss for hope. Poe's memories. Sweet memories. His childhood days were blissful ones. Even when there was chaos, his parents knew how to make him feel safe. Made sure he was safe. Made sure he was loved, accepted. Happy.
Fists twisting in her lap, Rey shot up almost as if to physically push the thoughts from her head. Across the room, she drank in her reflection from her mirrored wardrobe doors. Slowly, she began to walk forward, eyes trained on her face. She walked within inches of the wardrobe, coming face-to-face with herself. She was nineteen now, but she looked still too small, still like a child. Her muscles showed, but it wasn't enough. It would never be enough. She needed to be stronger. Stronger. Stronger.
She swung her right fist without really meaning to, and shattered the glass beneath her fist. All she could see now was her shattered self reflected back in the broken surface.
In her mind, she came to a resolve, and letting out a puff of air she opened her wardrobe doors, sending the broken glass flying. She quickly changed into a less for-show black tunic made for travel. Once she finished changing, she gathered what she needed and quickly darted out her door. Coming across the first storm trooper she saw, she commanded, "ready a first order ship and gather a crew. Set course for Tokanda." She knew, thanks to Poe, that resistance fighters were set out for Tokanda. Maybe that would lead her to something. It had to. It just had to.
