Aurelia heard his heartbeat before hearing his footsteps. While she didn't expect him to come back, she couldn't help herself from smiling when the familiar sound of his fast heartbeat filled her ears. He climbed her thinking hill slowly, his boots making soft sounds in the tall grass and stopped a couple meters behind her. She could feel his eyes bore into the back of her head, but she dared not move from her position on the edge of her hill.
"I sorry," He started awkwardly. "I'm sorry for…losing my temper."
"Why did you come back?" She asked quietly, almost a whisper.
"Someone told me that you could show me the truth." He answered with about the same level of volume. If they weren't so Force sensitive, their words would've just gotten lost in the breeze.
He wasn't gone after all. Tears choked her and she rose to her feet, but didn't cross the space that separated them. She was so happy to be wrong. So, so happy. She could feel his confusion and uncertainty pulse off of him in waves. "I have to have your complete trust."
She could feel his hesitation. "I don't want to feel this pain anymore." He finally answered and moved closer to her. She led him to the side of the hill and they both sat down. Aurelia could fee her hair being whipped in the wind. She imagined his doing the same as she grabbed his gloved hands.
"You have to let me in completely." She said as she felt the heat in his fingers. "Or it's not going to work."
"Are you sure that you can do this?" He whispered back, a new emotion in his voice. She could feel the ache deep in his being.
She bit her lip. She wasn't sure of anything at the moment, except that she needed to help him. It was why she was here, in this moment in time. That fact was apparent through the Force. "I'm sure." She said finally, letting the Force fill her chest with confidence and determination.
"Okay. I'm ready." At his affirmation, Aurelia reached up and ran her hands over Kylo's face, feeling his angular cheekbones and his pulse beneath his skin. he stiffened and Aurelia prodded the shield he had put up with her powers. She stopped touching him.
"Kylo," She started. "Please work with me."
"I'm sorry." He said. "I…haven't been touched like that in a long time. It was unexpected."
"I'm going to get pretty intimate here." Aurelia explained. "I'd thought I get you warmed up."
His cheeks flushed red, but his body relaxed underneath her hands. "Okay."
Aurelia started again. She could feel the carterized burn that ran from his cheek to his forehead. He pushed his head into her touch, running his lips over the inside of her wrist. Her heart skilled a beat at this startling, sensual gesture. But, she didn't dwell on that. She had a mission. Gathering as much Force energy as she could, she moved her hands up into his long, curly hair to rest on the sides of his temples. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for what she was going to find.
Aurelia inhaled and with a burst of energy, she was inside and was met with fire. She squinted against the bright light from blaze, letting herself get used to seeing more than dark outlines and life forces. She floated over a pit of blue and red flames that threatened to lick at her heels and consume her from the feet up.
Rage. This was the product of all of his other emotions, she concluded. This would have to be exterminated first.
She mustered the Force again. Her training from Sabla-Mandibu's holocron suggested that logic was the best way to combat malicious and reckless emotions. Peace was the opposite of rage. Rage produced passion. Kylo used passion to fuel his powers.
Aurelia walked around in mid-air above the flames, trying to decide what also produced passion, but wasn't destructive like unchecked anger.
Love?
"Really?" Aurelia groaned to herself. "We couldn't have waited for this part?"
Aurelia bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she was entirely ready for what she was about to do. Although the Force let her know in its unforgiving way that it was correct way to get rid of this inferno below her.
She let the Force fill her with compassion and she closed her eyes and confessed the desires of her heart. "I love Kylo Ren unconditionally." She uttered quietly and opened her eyes to the flames disappearing towards the center of the room. "I love Kylo Ren unconditionally." She repeated a little louder. She watched as the gigantic blaze disappeared into a small candle in the middle of the dark room. She bent over the candle, hugging her knees, and watched the little flame flicker. A little anger was okay. she thought. If it was used in the correct way.
"You love me?"
Suddenly, Aurelia was thrown of Kylo's head, as he shook her hands off of his temples. Frustration rose in her chest at the interruption. "Yes, of course I love you." She answered quickly as she had to re-prepare the amount of Force necessary to continue her mission.
"Aurelia, I-,"
"Kylo, let me do this." With that he let her back in, this time she shoved her forehead against his and tangled her fingers into his curly hair. No more inhibitions. She could feel his breathing quicken and it felt hot against her lips. He was not allowed to break off again, otherwise the healing would be incomplete and Kylo Ren would still be caught between the Light and the Dark.
This time she found herself on a planet with bright blue skies, dark trees, and a crisp breeze that whipped Aurelia's hair into her face. This was one of the bases for the Resistance. She thought, as information about his memories flooded into her so quick it made her head spin a little.
Mommy, look at my ship!
A small, curly-haired child ran past Aurelia into an open-air structure that was coming in clearer and clearer with every passing second. He held a toy ship like it was flying and collided it into the hip of a young woman who leaned over a control panel. Leia Organa. Mother. Wife to Han Solo. Sister to Luke Skywalker. Resistance general. Princess of Alderaan.
That's great, Ben.
Mommy, when's Dad coming home so I can show him my ship?
He wrapped his arm around her thigh and glanced through Aurelia. His eyes were wide and knowing and his smile was crooked like his father's.
I don't know, honey. She responded in a distracted tone. Why don't you go play with Threepio?
Aurelia watched the memory with fascination and analysis.
The scene changed and now she was in a large room and was surrounded by children of all different races and colors, no older than twelve or thirteen. Luke's Jedi academy. As she focused on faces, names pervaded her train of thought. They sat on their knees in a circle. Aurelia picked out the young Ben that was over to the side, his head down as a man with a salt and pepper beard pace up and down in front of the children. That was his uncle, Luke Skywalker. Rebellion Hero. Pilot. Jedi. Trained by Ben Kenobi and Master Yoda.
Who can tell Ben why it is unacceptable to fight in the dormitories?
There is no chaos, there is harmony. They all said at once.
But, Uncle, they were picking fights-
You may call me 'Master'-
The scene shifted again and it was the same room, except Ben looked much older, almost fifteen or sixteen, and so did his uncle.
You are powerful, Ben. However, I'm not authorizing you to leave this temple with the others.
But, Master I want to help the Resistance against the First Order!
No. You're powerful, but you let your emotion take over too often. You have to practice not losing control over your passions.
The two disappeared and left Aurelia alone in the room in darkness. These were his childhood memories. The memories that shaped him into the adult he is today. The memories he chooses to dwell on and feed his hate against his family and against the Light side. Aurelia sighed. The best way to combat the past was to look towards the future. She called on the Force to project an image on the dark walls of this part of his mind. Images that were just glimpses enough to show how foolish he was to harness such hate against the those who loved him most.
She watched the projection as it happened. Ben Solo on his knees, his mother crying into his shoulder. He dangling off an edge precariously, a dark-skinned man holding onto him by one arm and then pulling him up. He standing in front of a memorial stone with Han Solo's name on it, tears in his eyes.
The projection stopped and Aurelia gathered the Force and moved on.
