Star Wars: A Bond Awakens
Chapter Eight: The Extravagance of It All
Rey watched him gently put Ora on the ground. She didn't question his odd, soft actions towards her. She was ready now to fight him.
Kylo Ren stood up from her body, reactivating his saber. The glowing red energy spewed up and out two stokes on the side. It looked menacing, but appeared also unstable.
The young scavenger stared at him with fierce eyes, breathing heavily. Her heart was racing so fast. She had never been in a saber battle, but she had to fight hard and well if she wanted to make it out alive.
She thrusted her blue saber first. He deflected it easily. She kept coming at him, but no mark on him was made. She swung again, but cut a tree down instead of him. He circled her, now going on the offense. She was able to counter each hit, but she was stumbling backwards, unable to find any balance.
He kept coming at her as if she were the one who took someone precious away from him. He swung hard at her, so she ran not confident enough to believe she could deflect such powerful swings. She tried circling back to where Finn and Ora lay to make sure they weren't freezing to death, to make sure they were okay. They seemed still warm to the touch.
Rey quickly covered Ora with Han's jacket to keep her warmer. She wished she would have done that earlier. Her lips were purple now.
Kylo Ren walked swiftly up to her, swinging his saber and causing her to stumble a few feet away from Ora. She got back up and fought harder. He was unstable now. She got a few slashes on him, his skin now burned from her saber. He turned back to Rey, more anger than ever.
"You brought her here," he growled. He was gaining more momentum again. "Don't think I don't know you two have been communicating through the Force. You should have let her be. Now look what you've done."
Rey struggled in her mind for a moment. She began doubting herself and her contribution to Han's death, Ora's unknown state, and Finn's unconsciousness. If she hadn't been here...if she would have let Ora stay with her that day in the forest on Takodana... If she hadn't left Jakku or had even gone back when she said she would, none of this would be happening.
He took his chance and swung again and again, making her stumble and fall. She tried as swift as she could to back up. Suddenly, he had a hold of her now. His saber was getting close to her face, only her own saber between them. What little strength she had, she tried to push him back, but she couldn't hold on for much long.
"You need a teacher," he growled. "I can show you the ways of the Force."
She stopped for a moment. "The Force?" Rey's memory of all Maz said had rushed through her. I am no Jedi, but I know the Force. It moves through and surrounds every living thing.
Close your eyes.
Feel it.
And she did. She shut her eyes tight, focusing not on Ora and Finn who were unconscious, not on Han how she would never get to know him any better than the short time she spent with him, but on the Force. She felt it moving through her. She felt it still moving in Finn... He was still alive! She felt Ora...and she felt the tiny living beings inside her. A smile subtly came on her face and she found the Force strength to push Kylo Ren back into his place.
They fought even harder than before. She swung with such strength, it was off-putting to Kylo. He was still fought hard, but she was clearly gaining her balance quicker than he could find his again.
She then swung hard, slicing a piece of his cloak and leg. He fell to his knees, struggling to get back up. He swung at her awkwardly, but she just sliced him in the arm. Finally, she kicked him to the ground. He was now on his back, looking up at her eyes that had grown black with the darkness. She was hungry for revenge. She circled him like a lion would circle an injured, dying prey.
Kylo Ren refused to let the girl best him. He got up once more, fighting with everything he had, but he was still so distracted, so full of mixed emotions that he was useless now in this fight.
He took a hold of her saber as she did his, and she forced his saber to burn the snow on the ground. He struggled to fight back, but she had so much strength with the Force.
She gained her momentum, pushed him back and sliced across his face. He fell to the ground right next to Ora.
Rey had won!
She stared at him with the most vicious look, and suddenly, something whispered in her mind...Remember the beautiful good in you, Rey.
Ora? Rey thought to herself. She stared at the unconscious body, but a quake in the ground made her stumble backwards. She looked at the forest floor. It was cracking and moving. The tremors created a wide gap between Rey and Finn, and Kylo and Ora.
Rey looked up with a worried face. "Ora!" she yelled. There wasn't anything she could do. The gap was too far to jump. Even if she were able to jump to Ora, she couldn't carry her over the chasm.
With as much as reluctance, she left Ora as Ora had left her before. She turned her back, tears streaming down her face in hopelessness.
xxxOraxxx
She slowly began to wake. There was small beeping beside her from a heart monitor. The room was dark and lifeless. A droid she knew was wired for medical purposes was sorting out some medicine.
"Where am I?" Ora asked the droid.
The droid turned to her and in a high pitched, soft and gentle voice she asnwered, "We are on Master Ren's new ship, my Princess."
"Princess?"
"You are Priness Leia Organa's adopted daughter, are you not, my lady?"
She didn't answer. Her head hurt. The muscle inside her skull pounded rapidly and all she wanted was for it to stop. As if the droid knew exactly what was going through her mind, she handed Ora a few tablets to swallow.
"Heard you were in a Force sleep. Those can be ruddy to wake from," she said lightly.
"Who else is on this ship?" she asked, putting the meds in her mouth and swallowing.
"Just Master Kylo Ren and the owner of the ship, my lady. He took us from the Starkiller, saying it would be just you, me, the owner, and him for now."
Ora scrunched her brows, confused. "Are we flying with the First Order?"
"Not as far as I can tell, my lady."
"Please, call me Ora."
The droid bowed and walked out of the room.
Ora took off the stickers on her chest there were hooked up to the monitor and the machine began to beep, feeling no heart rate.
Suddenly, Kylo and the nurse droid rushed into the room. His face was now scarred greatly. There was one giant slash going from the right of his forehead down his nose and to the other corner of his jawline. She shuttered with sadness to see him wounded.
"You should rest and keep that on for now," he said, keeping an even tone.
"I'm fine. Where are we going?"
He clenched his jaw as if he didn't want to say. "I'm taking you back to the Resistance base where you belong."
"Are you coming with me?"
"No... It's too late for that." There was water in his eyes and that pained expression he had when he spoke to his father one last time.
Han...
Ora had the urge to shutter away from him, to yell at him, to beat him, and even to kill him, but she forced those dark emotions back. She felt the letter, Luke's given letter to her and remembered again what he asked of her. She fell to her knees and started to sob, finding she didn't want the responsibility of anyone anymore.
Through her sobs, she heard Kylo say, "W3-6, leave us, please."
He knelt down to her as soon as the droid left and brought her in close.
"How could you," she sneered through her tears. "He was the only one who hadn't left me, but you took him away. How could you!"
He was confused as to why she was saying all these things and crying over them yet at the same time she was clinging to him, embracing him. She shouldn't be hugging and finding comfort in a monster.
xxx
This time she found herself waking up in a pleasantly warm bed that she didn't dare think of getting up from. It was soft and fit perfectly around her body. Maybe she only felt it that way because she had been lying on the cold snowy ground the evening before last.
When she sat up, she noticed a tray of food on the corner of the bed. Her instincts immediately went for the sweet fruit on the tray.
All the chaos and destruction had only happened two nights ago, but to her, it felt like centuries. As the images of that day started flooding her mind, she began to wonder about Ray and Finn. Were they alright? Was Finn still alive or did Kylo Ren cut deep enough to steal him away too?
Anger.
It came back all over again. She knew Luke wanted otherwise, but her emotions these days were out of control, and she began holding grudges...something she had never thought in her life she would do.
"I have your vitamins, Ora," the nurse droid said as she rolled in on her wheeled legs.
"For what?" Ora asked.
"For the babies, of course."
"Where did you get them?" she asked as she examined each pill.
"Master Ren asked that I go to the market while you were asleep to find anything medically you might need. This is important for the baby's growth."
"Where is he? I want to speak with him." She was impatient now; unexpectedly irritated and impatient.
The droid gave her a glass of water to drink. "Master Ren is not in the best of moods today, Ora. My systems believe it best that you stay in bed and rest for another day to avoid anymore stressful events. Maker knows you've had enough of them already; it's a wonder how you and the baby are still so healthy. Especially given you are so thin."
Ora frowned, looking at herself, now judging how she looked.
"Forgive me, my lady. I meant no offense, but you must eat a little more if you are to keep up good health."
"Well, thank you. I appreciate you looking after me. But I'm better now, and I can take it from here."
"I understand, Ora, but Master has requested I look after you no matter what you say. He says you would say something to defer my from my duty."
Ora laughed. There was still good in him. Leia was right. Things really weren't black and white. There was more to that fateful day when Han unwillingly left us. And he didn't hurt her. Not physically anyway and not emotionally on purpose. He was so keen on following Vader's steps, but he hadn't treated her like Anakin had treated Padme in her final moments. Quite the opposite, in fact.
There was hope that he will come home and hope that he will leave the dark behind for good.
"Will you let me know when he wants to see me? Let him know I want to see him, alright?"
The droid bowed again. "Yes, Ora." She then rolled away, leaving her to finish her food.
When Ora finished, she decided to wander the ship herself. There were several bedrooms, all nicely decorated as if it were a home. If there were this many bedrooms alone, she couldn't imagine how big this ship was. Curious enough, it was evident that it was no First Order ship. All the colors, symbols and patterns were wrong for it to be a ship of the Order. The ship appeared to be an average ship made for a rich neutral person who was neither part of the Order or the Resistance.
She walked out of the hallway and into a large sitting area with a very large window that completely took up the wall from floor to ceiling. The stars were brilliant and the small planets they passed just looked like spheres that you could hold in both hands. It was magnificent. She put her hands on the window and leaned her face so close, her nose felt the glass. Her steady breath fogged up the view until she couldn't see what was out there anymore. She turned away and walked around the sitting area and kitchen. This was a home in it of itself.
This wasn't Ben's ship, however. That much she knew. He wasn't for extravagant things. Especially not ships. He didn't for them...at least, he didn't when she truly knew him.
Looking through the cabinets, she saw a mess of food and ingredients.
"Excuse me." Someone coughed to get her attention.
She turned towards the voice. Her eyes lit up. "Maz! What in all the galaxy brings you here?"
"This is my ship, child. Of course I would be on it! Especially now that my castle has been destroyed to crumbling pieces, had to put myself somewhere, yes?" she smiled.
"Where is Ben?"
"Question of the day, that is, child. I wouldn't doubt he has himself locked up in his room."
"You...You are keeping Ben here?" she asked utterly at a loss for words.
The small creature laughed. "Of course not! He can come and go as he pleases. Yes, I know what you mean, Ora. He called to me, knowing I was near and here you two are. Occupying this hunk of a ship. It has been quite lonely, so I'm very glad you two decided to join me."
Ora stared at her still at a loss for words.
She walked slowly to the dining table and sat down, gesturing for her to do the same.
Obeying, Ora sat right across from her with a bowl of fruit in her hands, picking out what she liked and didn't like.
"When Kylo Ren figured out I had Luke's saber stashed away, he came to me demanding it. I, of course, refused. I had not met him before he called himself Kylo Ren, but when he came to me, all I could see was Ben. He was still so vulnerable...still immature and childish. He was lost, so I wasn't keen on treating him harshly simply because he claimed to be of the dark side. I spoke with him and we seemed to actually get along quite well, although he only visited me one other time-"
"What other time was that?"
Maz smiled. "Patience, child. I'm getting there. I believe he spoke to me freely as he did because I let in the most vile of creatures into the cantina. He felt like I would not judge him or hang anything over his head. He felt okay to be so wrong in my presence."
Ora frowned at this. She felt ashamed that Ben couldn't do the same for Ora. She should have made it clear he could come to her whenever he needed free of worry about judgment. She failed.
The little creature continued. "He came to me a few days after the troopers took out my castle. He asked what I had told you and Rey that made you leave the poor scavenger girl all alone. And I told him. My apologies, it really wasn't my place, but I had a bit of hope that maybe...maybe knowing would spark something bigger in him than the darkness. And I think it did." Maz smiled proud as if it was all her doing.
Ora placed a hand on hers, silently thanking her for what, she didn't know, but it was good.
"Am I being sent back to the Resistance?"
Maz smirked. "Of course not. At least, not in the foreseeable future. I have that all covered, darling Ora. You just spend time with Ben, and I will see to it that Leia and your friends know you are alright."
They stood up from the table and embraced one another. "Thank you for everything, Maz."
"Oh, there isn't anything to thank me for. Oh, by the way, his room is the second on the right down the hallway." Maz winked at her and walked into the kitchen to grab herself some food.
Ora didn't know whether to bother him or not. If he wasn't in the best of moods, maybe she would only make it worse. She wasn't sure. Slowly, she walked down the hallway and planted herself in front of his door.
She could either knock or turn away.
She could stand there and wait or she could just go to her own room and do something less stressful like reading.
Ora didn't have to make any decisions. He felt her presence and opened the door wide.
She looked up at him, his eyes soft, but the scar left him more intimidating now and somehow less child-like. She touched him gently where the scar began and made her way to where it ended. She wished she could take the pain away from him.
