She felt the tears running down her face, looking at the light reflecting off the surface of the lake. Her hands came up, wiping away the tears. There was too much on her mind now, she knew it would be a unanimous vote within the Senate. Why wouldn't it? She was Junior to the late Chancellor, it was destined to be. Sometimes she wondered if this was why Snoke chose her? Why out of all of the Jedi's available, all of those touched by the force he chose her.

Did he see into her future? Did he see her at the head of the Senate? Did he see her as a pawn in his game of power?

Sometimes having these kinds of questions were considered as dangerous. Snoke could always force his way back into connection when you close yourself off. Her eyes shut as she felt a breeze blow against her skin, it was still very much summer on the planet. The summers were long and warm, met with the distant graze of the breeze from the lake.

But these nights always caused her to question her fate, she thought to herself; fate. Was she destined to stay in the center, in the middle. Forever struggling within the shadow and light? Or was she expected to hide herself in the senate room like Darth Sidious did for all those years?

Her lips pressed in a tight line as she stared off, her feet dangling off the edge of the sheer cliff. Her hand grabbing a nearby rock, throwing it off into the distance, watching it eclipse, and quickly descending into the dark forest below her.

She could still feel the connection there between her and Kylo Ren, his prodding and poking into her emotions only causing her patience to run thin.

"I want to be alone."

She felt herself speaking out loud, knowing she was truly alone in the physical, but not through their connection.


Ren could feel the twigs, the dirt and rock under his feet as he moved across the ground. He looked out at the sun setting in the distance, the pastel hues spreading through the sky like a pallet spilling across a canvas. He watched as her figure remained motionless, her eyes staring off into the distance.

" The emotions I felt, what I felt was too much to ignore."

Ren moved closer, resting on his knees beside her, he turned his head slightly, looking at her face.

Her eyes were red from crying, the freckles across her nose hidden under the rushed blood that hurried to her face as she cried. He could hear her sniffles as she tried to breath, struggling with the idea of it.

His hands reached out feeling her skin, watching as her eyes closed, tears spilling out over her cheeks. He wiped them away, wishing to remove all of her pain, and any evidence of it.

He felt the guilt creep back in as he looked at her, feeling the extreme pain that was resting in her heart, tearing it apart piece by piece.

"I'm sorry."

He spoke, wanting to take it all back in the end, but he was so drawn within the dark side, wanting to complete his master's task, and in turn spread The First Order.

"I know why you did it."

She said coldly,

"It wasn't pure coincidence that I left Hosnian Prime Kylo Ren. I was warned of it by Snoke."

Ren shook his head, of course she knew. Of course Snoke warned her. With her gone she could advance up the Senate ladder, becoming the new Chancellor. He felt naive to think that she wasn't warned, that she was somehow innocent in all of this.

She could feel his hand rest on her shoulder, knowing that he wasn't here afterall. She had to be separated from him, Snoke had known what happened between them. She knew it, she knew that the apprentice had developed some kind of fascination with her. She knew when she could feel the beat of his heart through his wrist as he grabbed her's. Did he feel her heart beat too?

Poe was the light, the life that was supposed to be her's. She could remember the feel of his lips on her's the first time they kissed, remembering that night on Yavin 4, remembering her hand upon the tree at his house. It's trunk reacting to her touch, knowing that she was touched by the force.

"Don't think of him."

She could hear the seething in Ren's voice as he spoke, his mind in her memories too, sharing them between each other unconsciously.

Kylo Ren was the darkness that she spent so much of her life in, hiding as a shadow from herself, from the light that was expected of her. He was the life that was expected of her now, of the command, the presence, and the life that she was to live after Snoke.

Her mind pulled to the first time Snoke tried to force her mind.

Her hands gently moved over the trees in the woods, her eyes looking up into the light of the new sun, feeling a smile pulling across her lips as she felt the warmth.

Her hand slipped, and she felt as if she had fell into the darkest pit, her mind burning as she braced against the tree in pain. Her hands dug into her hair, the pain overwhelming, threatening to pull her under if she couldn't fight back. She felt as if her nails would begin to dig into her scalp as she felt his voice, booming and cold.

"The force is in this one. But you were not trained?"

She huffed, feeling the voice begin to echo throughout her head.

" You wish to be trained? To find your father?"

He could sense her need to know the man she heard nothing about. He could dig deep into her dreams and wishes.

"You wish to join the Senate? A politician?"

Her back slammed against the tree, her knees giving way as she felt his darkness touch the deepest part of her soul.

"So much anger rests within you. Such corruptibility."

She heard his voice, feeling as if her body was being torn apart, feeling the voice burn into her ears.

" Cassiopeia."

It was the first time she heard that name, the name that would become her identity as a Sith. Did he see into her future? Did he see her as a force to be reckoned with?

Ren could feel her most painful moment in her childhood, his arms touching her shoulders, feeling her skin against his, he was lost within the memory of her forced connection with Snoke, trying not to remember his. He had sought the darkness after all, and in turn Snoke had found him, inviting him into it.

She looked into his eyes, his face twisted in confusion on what to say, his hands only gripping tighter on her shoulders, not wishing to let her go.

She could feel the pull of the darkness from him, the call away from the light as she remembered the pain and anger that she felt after feeling the absence of space. Remembering the life that filled the system that she called home, and how it has all been extinguished.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at Ren, his eyes staring at her's. Feeling their connection deepen with each passing second. Her eyes looked over the scar beginning to form, he no longer needed the bacta bandages. It was healing well, but it would make him look formidable when it's fully healed.

"Kyra!"

She heard a familiar voice, her body reacting as she turned, her gaze turning from Ren, breaking their connection.


She turned to look at the familiar figure of Poe Dameron standing behind her, no longer in his pilot suit. He looked like a well dressed civilian with his black pants covered in dust and his brown long sleeved shirt. She looked at his grasped hand to see her shawl still in his grasp. She gave him a half hearted smile, seeing him standing there, the light that she was supposed to live in, slowly walking towards her.


Ren felt the connection end, it's severance as he heard the voice of Poe speak to her. He still had such a sway over her, he remembered the memories of him, of him and Kyra's first kiss on Yavin 4. Of his words as he embraced her earlier today, he had remembered it all.

' Marry me.'

Ren's feet began to pace through his room as he remembered her feeling of helplessness and his comforting embrace.

' Marry me.'

He felt his stomach knot as he remembered his arms around her, gathering her into a kiss, feeling the relief within Kyra as she felt him pull her close.

' Marry me.'

Ren screamed, pulling his lightsaber from his waist, swinging angrily in the room. The sparks of heated metal showering down upon his floor. He felt the rage, the jealousy new things that he hadn't felt in so long that he forgot their names. His mind remembering his words, remembering Poe.

' Marry me.'

He looked at the wall, the hot red scars upon the metal fading in time as it cooled. Ren's rage beginning to take over as he remembered Snoke's warning,

' Your feelings, your compassion, your loneliness will be your downfall.'

He felt the rage boil over within himself, feeling the darkness within him weigh down the room, feeling it thicken the air as he stood there. His breath trying to catch as he looked at the wall, the red fading from the heat of the Lightsaber, the cold grey metal of his room now glowing red reflecting his rage.


Poe stepped closer, a smile spreading across his lips as he looked at her, he knew she had been crying. It was something he expected when she would be breached with the bad news. Her mother's death, her mentor's death and her untimely movement up the Senate ranks were too much to take in one pass. Poe knew that, but he had remembered the words of Master Skywalker.

'Nurture her.'

He sat next to her, his feet dangling off the side as well as he looked to her,

"How'd you find me?"

She asked, her eyes looking at the blue shawl in his hands.

Poe laughed, turning his head back to the sunset.

"Remember when your mother didn't want you to train as a Jedi? Regardless of Master Luke's instruction?"

He looked out smugly into the distance his fingers pointing to the sun in the distance.

" I always found you, because you would always be where the sun is."

He smiled, knowing how cheesy his reply was.

"Also because I put a tracker on you."

She laughed, knowing him too well as her arm hit his shoulder.

"You did not!"

She leaned in after giving him a gentle nudge.

"It's because you had a crush on me."

It was her turn to be smug as she looked at him, her eyebrows looking at him, trying to see if he would deny that logic.

Poe didn't deny it,

"Pretty girl, same age, mother was a Rebel pilot. Exactly my type."

His arm reached out, resting on her shoulder as he pulled her in. His lips pressed against her temple as he corrected himself.

" You always liked hiding in places like this when we were younger. You remember?"

She rested her head against his shoulder, her mind wandering as she remembered the first time Poe found her. She was hiding from her mother, knowing that she had eavesdropped on Master Luke and her talking. Heard her yelling at him, her hand pointing at the door as she screamed for him to leave.

"Brother or not to my queen you will leave now!"

She felt the guilt rise up inside of her as she watched him leave, his head nodding gently at little Kyra as he left.

She knew what the argument was about, Master Luke was trying to train new Jedi's for the order. He could sense it in her, but she knew her mother wanted nothing to do with that life.

"Kyra.."

She heard her mother speak as her gaze was fixed on her, her mother's love knowing no bounds. But her eyes were filled with anger and tears as she looked at her mother. Watching as her chances for more in life walked out that door behind Master Luke.

She ran through the door, trying to chase down Luke as he moved towards his X-wing, preparing to leave so soon.

"Master Luke"

She yelled as she ran towards him, his body turning as he looked at her. He was older than what she had heard from her mother. The young man that stopped The Empire was now wise in his years, but still had that eager spark.

"Kyra." He spoke, bending down to the small girl, moving some of the brown hair from her face.

"Go back to your mother."

He spoke to her, not knowing truly how to handle her as a child, how to really handle any children at this point.

"But I want to go with you.."

She pouted, her foot hitting the ground angrily.

Luke shook his head, knowing too well the urgency that she felt to leave.

"No, you don't child. The Jedi path is a lonely one. Go back to your mother."

"NO!"

She screamed, her foot stomping on the ground as she ran away, running into the woods. A child hiding from the fate that had been stopped, she wanted to be a Jedi. She wanted to be one.

She chuckled to herself,

"You found me in the woods, throwing rocks at a tree."

Poe held her close, laughing as his lips were against her skin,

"Throwing rocks at a tree.. Acting like some angry Wampa."

She blew raspberries at him, her elbow hitting him in the side, exchanging insults between the two of them.

"Nerf-herder.."

"Swamp rat."

She felt a sigh of relief come from her lips as she looked out, the sun had finally set. The darkness beginning to pull around them like a cold sheet. Poe's arm pulled the shawl over her shoulders, his hands moving to try and keep her warm.

She could feel himself internally dialoguing, thinking his words through before he even spoke, wanting to ensure she was feeling just a little better.

"What is it Dameron?"

She spoke, her eyes starting to look at the darkness slowly roll in.

"Dameron?"

He turned his head to look at her, his eyebrows cocked.

"Must be serious to call me that!"

She rolled her eyes, looking back at him, her eyebrow cocked in the same manner.

"I can feel your internal debate."

She coyly spoke as he acted taken aback.

"Me? Well, can you blame me. I'm sitting here with the woman I asked to marry me only hours ago."

She could feel the grin spread across his face, hearing his own words, but knowing not to push the subject.

"You don't have to decide right now Kyra. Just, give it some thought."

She nuzzled herself back into his warm embrace, feeling his hands rub against her arm trying to keep her warm as the darkness brought the cool breeze with it.

Her struggle between both forces meant nothing until now, and it would only get more difficult as time would pass.

Poe, the life that she was meant to live.

Kylo Ren, the life that she was obligated to live.