A/N: Ayyy, thanks for reading the next chapter. I'm your girl, Autumn, and per usual I'm just a total piece a shit. Here's the chapter.
Rey rushed down the hall, white knuckling the hem of her dress as she hoisted it up to her thigh to prevent herself from tripping. Adrenaline spiked through her, but her mind was blank unable to process what had just happened. All she could do was keep moving, far from that room and far from that bizarre man.
As she fled, she felt as if she was back on that stage, head throbbing and body aching as logic warred with what she had just witnessed. She felt almost as if she was in the middle of a bad dream. Doors locking on their own, wine bottles flying across the room, being frozen in place with screams stuck in her throat… That wasn't reality. There were stories of people in the past, secretive orders of men and women who had power that the average person couldn't even dream of, but those had just been stories… at least they had been.
The more space between her and Kylo Ren, the more she was able to comprehend what had truly just happened. The shock started to wear away, leaving nothing but clarity that could only leave her reeling for what the future could hold for her. It had never involved magic cracking at her finger tips. She hardly knew what she could use such powers for.
You're going crazy, Rey. This is all madness.
Pushing herself further down the hall, the tether she had felt on stage almost felt as if it could yank her back to the mysterious mage. If she felt moving, she wondered, would it get so tight that she would be flung back to him against her will, or would it snap?
"Rey!" Finn's familiar voice broke her from her stupor as she rounded the corner, his gentle touch bringing her to a stop. He looked down at her, worried eyes searching her over. It took everything not to collapse against him and fall apart. Where Kylo had been the unknown, Finn was familiar safety. She forced herself to remain composed. She had never been that girl, a wilting flower searching for someone to hold her close and assure her everything would be alright. A sweet lie and a strong embrace wouldn't have been unwelcomed, but she couldn't worry him with something she barely understood. "Rey, are—are you alright?"
"O-Of course," her reply came out as a shaky breath, surprising herself at how frightened she sounded. She cleared her throat as she tucked loose strands of hair from her face. "I'm fine."
Put on your mask, Rey. No need to make him worry. Nothing happened that pertains to putting Finn on edge. Not really. You're fine.
"You're shaking," he murmured as his brows pinched together, glancing behind her before he lowered his voice. Was she? She hadn't realized until he took her arm protectively, his steadiness making her aware that she couldn't stop herself from shivering. No doubt she looked far from disheveled besides for her nervous demeanor. After all, Kylo hadn't tried anything more than taking her hand. "What did he do to you? I told Maz that someone should have been waiting right outside that door. Who pays that much just to get a girl alone?"
"He didn't… He didn't do anything," she replied as she took a deep breath through her nose before she forced a reassuring smile to spread across her lips. "And if he had, I could have handled it. Have I ever needed rescuing?"
She had dealt with handsy guests before. Some men thought that any exposed flesh was an invitation to touch and explore. While clubbing a man over the head with a wine bottle was on the extreme end on things, she always managed to shock handsy patrons with how she was able to fight dirty to teach them to keep their hands from wandering up her skirt or up to cup a breast. More men than Maz would like to admit had left the club bleeding and bruised after grabbing one of her girls.
"No," he admitted, but the worry never left his face. "Something did happen. I've never seen you like this."
How did she even begin to tell him what had happened?
Well, Finn… That man is some sort of very rich and very rude magician or charlatan, but either way he's a complete madman who wants to teach me to pull rabbits out of hats and stop wine bottles in midair. Also, he's convinced that magic is real, and I that can 'wield power,' but what frightens me the most isn't that he's obviously in need of serious help. No, what frightens me the most is that I want to believe him, and I feel a bizarre pull to him. That shock that we shared tonight was painful, but before I went black… I felt the beginning of an ecstasy I've never felt.
Where had that last thought came from?
I need to go to bed and sleep this night off.
"He said I was a poor singer," she answered with something that wasn't completely a lie. The words had stung, but it wasn't anything to make her entire being quake. Tremors continued, energy still ripping through her in waves that were becoming impossible for her to deny. Whether the little lie was completely for Finn's or for her own, to not to push away the panic that threatened to overtake her completely, she wasn't sure. That was a thought for another time. "He was terribly rude and… and I'm just angry that I have to take his money. Look at me. I can't stop shaking, I'm so angry."
"Maz doesn't have to take his money," he insisted as he started to lead her down the hall, even deeper into the Castle in the direction of Maz's office. "She can return it—"
"No, not when we can do so much with it," she shook her head. Even if her night had been bizarre, that conversation alone had earned them that money. The fact that she couldn't stop trembling as her head swam in delirium had earned them every single credit that Kylo had offered them. "We can take the money now and we'll never see him again. He didn't much care for this place. That man is mad, paying so much just to insult me, but I doubt we'll ever see him again after tonight. I can almost promise you that."
"I hope to be doing business with you again," Maz said, sickeningly sweet as she gave him a smirk to match his tone before she glanced down at the second half of his payment through the thick lenses of her glasses. Quickly, her tiny fingers dashed through the bills as she counted the cash at an impossible rate as they stood in her tiny office. Kylo didn't think that this place could get worse, but it had. First, the center of the club was filled with the stench of tobacco smoke, heavy perfume, and sweat with dimly flickering lights that would no doubt burn down the theater one day. Second, the room where he had been promised a 'performance' had, apparently, the theme of the color eggplant no doubt once all a royal purple that had faded with age by the rot that had begun to cling to the fabric. Now, he was crammed into a tiny office space that could have only fit one person, Maz. He had ducked upon entrance and remained slightly hunched over due to his own mass. No doubt he had been right earlier: this place was truly hell.
"That bounty is the last you'll be getting from me," Kylo bit out, his throat sore with anger that he was desperately swallowing down. The wraiths that followed him in shadow seemed to approve as his resolve, rising louder now that he was away from the girl and out of her sway. He hadn't noticed how they had been muted by her presence, too distracted by her. Kylo had expected her to be a seductive minx by the way she had performed, flirting with an entire room, but he had been surprised to find her wary and willing to flee at his, admittedly, mishandling of the situation. Kylo hadn't had a plan to get her alone, driven purely by a need he never knew that he had, so he had thought to speak with the city's common tongue: credits and more than enough of them to earn more than a second glance.
The moment had passed as had that odd urge, the shock of feeling so drawn to the girl and that desire to bring her in and teach her. What had he been thinking, tossing so much cash away some common girl? He was smarter than this, above the primal urges that distracted others. He was better. He had to be better. Still, he found the girl clouding his thoughts as he realized she was doomed to waste any potential she might have had under a decent tutor. It was a pity that Rey was destined for as she wasted her life away as a poor songbird.
"Part of that belongs to the girl. She should use it to find a way out of this place before she ends up a withered, former ingenue."
His eyes flickered to the wall, old posters of faded headliners lining the wall. He noted that they all appeared to be pretty, but he had heard of none of them. Whoever they were, they were now lost to the march of time as other younger, prettier girls no doubt took their spot leaving them scrounge for bit parts or marry up and out of the life that the Castle provided.
"And where do you expect 'the girl' to go?" the little woman asked, her eyes raising from the stacks. There was a hint of curiosity in her large, bug-like eyes that he didn't like as if she were seeing into him, past the hard shell he had built up over the years. "She's a smart girl with quite a few talents, none of which are practical outside of these walls or scavenging on the streets. I'll give Rey her cut, but I doubt that it'll go to her miraculously becoming a lady of new money and joining high society… but you aren't really apart of high society either, are you?"
"Is it the right amount?" he asked, avoiding the question as he gestured with his now cramping arm. The less they knew about him the better. He was surprised the question of why he would be carrying so many bills with him at once hadn't come up in the transaction, but the woman had been so eager to take the first half of the payment he assumed that perhaps she just didn't care. As run down as the building was, it didn't surprise him that she would take a windfall in a heartbeat.
"Hmm? Oh… yes, I need to count," she murmured, going back to the beginning of the stack. "How does a gentleman such as yourself obtain this much money, if you don't mind me asking? Ren isn't an old family name, believe me… I've rubbed elbows with everyone from the Organas to the Shans."
"I do mind you asking, and I respectfully decline to answer," he replied sharply as he started to back out of the small office. "I trust that the full amount of there. If it isn't, well… It's more than this place deserves."
The woman didn't argue, merely tossing her hands up in a wide shrug as she moved the money to the top drawer of her desk.
"If you ever want to see the renovations or perhaps even advise in them, for a small fee, you know where we'll be, Mr. Ren," she said curtly. The knowing spark never left her even as he turned roughly, walking with wide strides towards an exit at the end of the hall. The sooner he was finished with this place, the better.
Now that the girl was behind him, he had to figure out how exactly to deal with Hux. He had made the claim that the hunch he was following would lead them ever closer to the man they hunted, but it was nothing more than a dead end. Whatever the draw was to the girl, it was nothing more than his confused senses finding someone with the same abilities that both he and his prey shared.
As he neared the door, he sensed her once again, her presence pulling him away from his thoughts on Hux and on his investigation.
Even if he thought her act silly and her voice plain, the energy that had awakened within her was like a siren's song and it took everything within him not to turn around just to catch a glimpse of her. No doubt she was nearing that woman's office, most likely to talk about him. He had faced greater challenges than a pretty face and an alluring aura, but as he pushed the door open he had felt as if he had freed himself from a dangerous trap.
"Ren!" Before he could even process the sound of his name echoing down the alley way, it was followed by the sound of bone crushing against bone and metal clattering against the stone. He turned to see Hux swiftly kicking something towards him Poe Dameron leaned against the wall of the alley, holding his jaw. A pistol landed at his feet.
"Grab the gun!" Hux hissed as he landed another punch into the man's gut just before rapid barks filled the alleyway before a giant, orange dog latched its iron jaw into Hux's calf. A cry escaped Hux as he attempted to shake the beast from his leg just as the man gathered his wits and joined in on the attack. "Shoot the damned thing!"
The longer he hesitated, the more angered Hux became much to his amusement. If they weren't dealing with one of the New Republics most beloved, he could have stolen his breath much as he had the old man he'd killed earlier in the evening. Even if most of the world thought magic was a thing of the past, there was no doubt in Kylo that Dameron's patroness, Leia Organa, would be able to spot a death by curse on sight. Death by bullet it was.
Before he could lean down to pick up the gun or rid Hux of the dog in any other way, the door behind him burst open.
"What is going on?!" Maz stormed into the alleyway followed by the starving artist who had rushed to Rey's aid when she had collapsed during her performance. Light illuminated the alleyway, pouring out from club acting as a spotlight for the players in the alleyway. That was when it really struck him how odd it was for the two men to scuffling in the alleyway like two drunks who had been tossed out of a bar during a brawl. Hux, he could understand. Beneath his polished surface was a beaten mutt that was waiting to lash out after one wrong move. The man was waiting for war to break, starving to spill blood and be done with political intrigue. The man had a mind for battle and in this peace, he had yet to be able to use the knowledge that would push him from a quiet political lackey to a general.
"I'll ask again," Maz barked. "What the hell is going on?"
"These guys are First Order scum, Maz," Dameron growled before spitting blood directly onto Hux's perfectly shined shoes. Well, at least they had been. As the dog seemed to bite deeper into his leg, it appeared that they were certainly scuffed against the stone and torn into by the dog's claws.
"Call off your dog!" he cried as Dameron hesitated.
"Poe, tell him to release the man!" Maz instructed as she pointed the gun in his direction.
"Beebee, let 'em go," he groaned. The dog relented, but as he did so he feinted a punch only to lean hard against the wall of the alley. Before he could collapse onto the ground, his friend rushed to him all while keeping an eye on the ginger.
"Stop it!" the little woman shouted as she cocked her gun. "Keep your political arguments away from my club."
"These guys are obviously bad news!" the artist insisted. "You didn't even hear what that man did to Rey—"
"Finn, please!" It was then that Kylo realized in the heat of the fight, that light still poured from the club into the alley. The door should have closed long ago, and they should have been long engulfed in the darkness of the alley. He glanced back to see Rey standing the door way with a worn coat draped over her shoulders, shivering, and once again he felt that cursed draw to her.
Take her into your arms and take that power within her if she won't use in, the constant chorus that plagued him whispered right at his ear. Enchant her, entice her, and take her…
Tempted with such raw power with such a primal urge… Perhaps he hadn't been drawn here by the woman herself, but because of her power. A pretty face couldn't tempt him after so many years of hardening his heart, but the promise of such prominent and pure power that had gone untainted by his own misdeeds could turn his head.
Power that could bring Skywalker to heel. The thought lit in his mind, knowing why he had come there. He didn't know her, but that power within her, surely, was destined to be his and fate had been leading him along. No doubt if she ever came to realize her own potential, she would squander it as she was squandering her life away in the dank burlesque.
"This isn't a political argument, Maz, and you just took god knows how much money from the First Order!" Poe shouted as he held his jaw. His eyes were as dark as coal, hard with anger as he pleaded his case. "Do you want to rebuild this place with money from people that would love to see more cities burned to the ground like Alderaan? The people made their decision to be free from the rule of one man, but they would bring it back!"
"The people?" Hux sneered. "Or one small section of terrorists that decided that they knew the will of the people who lost their beloved emperor with the help of natives—"
A shot rang through the alleyway, bringing silence followed by the soft ting of the round hitting the ground.
"Keep your political arguments out of shouting distance of my club," Maz growled, her gun pointed in the air before she lowered it to the group again. "Do you think people come here to hear boys shouting about who's right and who's wrong about the state of the Republic? No. They come to be entertained. If you are so determined to fight, go somewhere else. I would advise, though, that you take your man, Mr. Ren, and that Mr. Dameron comes inside. If you would like to join us another night for entertainment, you are more than welcome to return."
Kylo stood there for a moment, shocked that he was being threatened by possibly the smallest woman he had ever met after he had paid her a sum of money that he was sure she had never seen in her life. Even if she was demanding that politics left her club, it was obvious by the company that she kept that she was close with the New Republic. This was just a ploy to keep trouble away from her nightclub.
His gaze rose to the young woman in the doorway as she pulled her coat tighter around herself as she met his gaze briefly before glancing away.
"I'll be back to discuss the renovations that I've invested in," he stated in a rush before he strode down the alleyway, grabbing Hux by the collar as he passed. He might have derailed their investigation for a night, but at least he hadn't decided to pick a fight with one of the most beloved men in the New Republic. As he pulled him away Dameron and his mutt, he at least felt reassured that he didn't owe the man an explanation for his bizarre night in the Castle and his even stranger decision to help in the renovations that his money was apparently going to.
If Dameron was so frequent a guest that Maz would defend them, it couldn't hurt to keep an eye on the Castle and those who appeared to be close to the young face of the New Republic. At least, that would be his defense until he managed to wring the magic brimming from Rey dry.
A/N: Dun, dun, dun... Our will they/won't they has turned into a "will they fuck/won't he suck all the goddamn magic out of her."