Rey stepped out of the refresher, partially dressed in a bra and pants, drying her hair. She was stepping to the closet to grab a shirt when she heard the door to her quarters open. "Kylo Ren! Will you ever learn," she turned, finishing her sentence, "to knock?" She gasped, holding her shirt up to cover her chest. "You!" she growled.
General Hux stood in the room, flanked by an officer on each side. "After a man has seen you naked, does it really matter if he knocks?" his smirk made her skin crawl. "Oh, wait. Every man on this base has seen you naked."
"What do you want?" she seethed, hurriedly putting her shirt on and crossing her arms. "Where is Kylo Ren?"
"I am here on orders from Supreme Leader Snoke to take you for interrogation. As for the whereabouts of your Knight of Ren, I have no idea. I assumed he checked in with you before doing anything, seeing as you're his little pet," he motioned to the officers. "Restrain her."
Rey tried to use Force push to knock them back, but wasn't quick enough. Each officer grabbed an arm, one pushing her sleeve up. She tried to resist, but they were too strong and held her firmly in place. Hux pulled a syringe out of his pocket, taking the cover off of the needle. "We can't have any of your Force nonsense this time," he said as he jabbed the needle into her arm.
"Kylo will kill you for…" she didn't get to finish her sentence as the sedative kicked in, knocking her unconscious.
The room was hazy when she first opened her eyes, everything out of focus, her mind trying to make sense of itself. The room was dimly lit, reminding her of the initial interrogation with Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base. Rey blinked hard, trying to clear her vision, lift the fog clouding her mind.
"Ah, there she is, our little scavenger," she heard General Hux's voice to her right side. Both officers that had been in her quarters were still with him.
He came into focus as she turned her head to look at him. She was held by her wrists and ankles with metal cuffs into a chair exactly like the one she had been in on Starkiller Base. She didn't bother to struggle as she knew it was pointless. Her mind was still foggy and her speech was slurred as she said, "He will kill you for this."
General Hux raised an eyebrow, "Will he, now? Do you really think he's going to throw away everything he's worked for in the First Order for scum like you?"
"Killing you wouldn't be a loss," Rey struggled to find words at all, let alone the right words to hide her fear.
"And killing you will be even less," Hux smiled. "Supreme Leader has grown impatient with your...progress. Ren has been slow to extract the necessary information, so that task has now been assigned to me. Along with the sedative you've been administered, you've also been injected with Skirtopanol, a powerful truth serum. Combined with some...encouragement, I think you'll give us the information we're looking for," he paused. "Let's start with some easy questions to see if the Skirtopanol is working, shall we?"
"You're a pathetic bag of shit," Rey smiled at her ability to say the sentence clearly.
"Aren't you just charming?" Hux said in a droll tone. A droid hovered near him. "This is an IT-000 interrogator droid. Every time you lie or I think you're lying, I will have it administer two prongs into your skin which will then cause your nervous system to send pain to every nerve in your body. The more you lie, the worse it will get. Let's begin, shall we? What is your home planet?"
Rey thought about lying, but found that she couldn't, "Jakku," she replied.
"How do you feel about Kylo Ren?" his smirk alone was enough to raise her ire.
"I love him," she blurted out. She had to figure out a way to fight the Skirtopanol and the sedative or she would surely reveal the location of Luke Skywalker and the Resistance base.
Hux laughed, "Oh, that's rich. Supreme Leader will find that interesting, I'm sure. You know, he will never let you two be together."
"No," Rey snarled as she felt her anger rise some more.
"Tell me where Luke Skywalker is," Hux's face became very serious.
Through the fog in her mind, Kylo's words came back to her. Use your anger. Rey balled her hands into fists against her restraints, fighting against herself and the drugs, "No," she said, exhaling hard.
"Administer the droid," Hux said.
The officer closest to the droid pressed a few buttons and it floated to Rey. It stuck two probes into her arm, administering an electric pulse that surged through her body, making her convulse in pain. It was less than she had felt under Snoke, however, so it only contributed to her temper.
"Where is Skywalker?" he asked.
"Tatooine," she said. "He went home." Her head was starting to become more clear.
"Lies. Administer the droid." The droid inserted the two probes again. This time the pain was more intense, causing Rey to cry out, but also growl at the end of her cry. "Tell me where you found Skywalker," Hux demanded.
"I didn't find him," she snapped.
"I don't know how you're lying, but I know you are or maybe you're not and I just enjoy watching you in pain. Administer the droid."
Rey screamed as the pain intensified, but as it intensified, so did her anger and her clarity. Use your anger. Her eyes bored holes into Hux as she defiantly stared at him.
"Where is Skywalker?" Hux shouted, his patience wearing thin.
"Tatooine," she repeated.
"Administer the droid!"
The pain was even longer and more intense this time. Rey screamed and writhed in pain. Sweat started to roll down her face and she was breathing hard. Her mind was clear of the sedatives, though, and she was effectively fighting the truth serum. Use your anger.
"Where is the Resistance base?" Hux changed his line of questioning.
Rey smirked, "Tatooine."
"Administer the droid!" Hux roared.
Rey screamed as the pain coursed through her body, wracking every nerve. Tears involuntarily squeezed out of her eyes, running down her cheeks. Her shirt was soaked in sweat and she was breathing so hard she started coughing. Spittle dripped down her chin as she couldn't wipe her mouth but she still stared straight into Hux's eyes. She was so angry she could feel her ears burning. "I can't wait to watch Kylo kill you," she snarled.
"Oh, it won't come to that. If you don't give me the information we want now, Snoke is going to kill your precious Kylo Ren," he spat the name out distastefully, "and you will be the cause of his death. You'll be strapped into a chair, just like this one, and Snoke will kill him right in front of you and it will be your fault. The man you love will be reduced to nothing as you helplessly watch his demise."
"Nooooooooooo!" Rey screamed. Her scream was loud, long, and powerful; her rage boiling over. No one was going to kill him, especially not on her account. Her chair started to shake, the shackles on her wrists and ankles shattering. The base of the chair warped and she dropped out of it. The interrogation droid exploded, falling to the floor in a pile of metal and flames, causing the officer operating it to scramble. The durasteel walls started to bend and warp, groaning as the metal started to twist. The dim lights in the room started to spark, threatening to go out. Rey's scream stopped as she brought herself to her feet, staring down the three men in the room.
All three reached for their blasters, only to have her use the Force to pull them from their hands and shatter them against the opposite wall. Rey looked at the officer closest to her. She twisted her wrist, snapping the man's neck. She turned to the other officer and Hux, their eyes aghast in horror. She laughed at their expressions, again twisting her wrist and snapping the neck of the other officer. She stared down Hux. "You're not going to have to worry about Kylo Ren killing you because I'm going to," she reached out her hand, making a fist.
Hux's hands went to his throat, grabbing at it as he struggled to breath. Rey moved closer to him, her face becoming more menacing by the second, never breaking eye contact. She heard the voice of Snoke in her head, kill him! As Hux started to turn purple, she loosened the Force choke on him, relaxing her hand. He looked relieved until she laughed and said, "I'm playing with you," and increased the intensity of the choke again, this time lifting him off the ground so that his feet dangled and kicked in desperation. "I'm going to enjoy watching you die more than you ever enjoyed watching me." She closed her hand into a fist and stared into his eyes until his breathing stopped. Seething, her breath coming in hard gasps, she held him there for a moment, then dropped him unceremoniously into a heap on the floor.
She stood there staring at his disheveled corpse, basking in the power of the Dark Side. Slowly she began to look around the room, surveying all she had done; the destroyed torture chair and droid, sagging walls, sputtering lights, dead bodies. She felt a mix of pride and satisfaction, breathing in deeply. As her anger abated, she began to truly realize what she had done and she did the only thing she could think of doing. She ran.
Something was wrong. Distracted, Kylo Ren took the end of an electrostaff to the side of his helmet, knocking him to one knee. He blocked he next blow with his lightsaber, deflecting it to the side. He stood up, raising one hand. "We're done here."
"What?" the other Knight of Ren pulled off his mask. "You can't just end a match like that."
"Jaxion, need I remind you, as the Master Knight of Ren, I can do as I please and this match is over," he turned off his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt.
"Your girlfriend must be calling for you," Jaxion smirked. "Never did I think I would see the day when Kylo Ren is lead around by his balls."
Kylo reignited his lightsaber, putting it to the other man's throat, "I have killed men for lesser transgressions."
Unwavering, Jaxion continued, "Maybe we need a Master Knight that is more in control of himself."
"If you question my abilities as the Master Knight, then we can set up an official challenge where battle is to the death, but I can assure you, you won't like the outcome and I'll have to find another Knight," Kylo kept his lightsaber at Jaxion's throat. "Until then, know your place."
"Don't be surprised when you receive that challenge," Jaxion snarled.
"I look forward to it," Kylo lowered his weapon. "Continue training," he announced, turning to leave. Jaxion made a move to take a swipe at Kylo's head with his electrostaff, but Kylo stopped him in his tracks with the Force. "Attacking from behind is not only dishonorable, but predictable."
Kylo tried to look as casual as possible while leaving the training arena. Something was wrong, but he didn't know exactly what. He had felt Rey's intense anger through their Force bond and he actually used it to his advantage during the match, until he realized she shouldn't have had any reasons to be that angry. Just as this realization surfaced, something shifted, something changed. He felt darkness wash over Rey, wash over him, like a black wave crashing on the beach. She should have been in her quarters. Alone. If that were true, what could have provoked such strong emotions?
He headed toward her quarters, unsure of what he might find. Rounding the corner, he noticed the Stormtrooper guards were no longer posted outside of her door, giving him cause for concern. He keyed the entry code and stepped into the room. She wasn't there. He checked in the refresher and she wasn't there, either. His mind started to race. He took a deep breath to calm himself. He reached out with his mind, trying to locate her. Rey…
Rey had stopped running and was sitting in the corner where two hallways met. She had no idea where she was on the base but once it was discovered that General Hux was dead, the whole base would be on alert. There wasn't a person on base that didn't know she was a prisoner. She felt Kylo touch her mind and suddenly felt silly for not reaching out to him in the same way instead of running around like a fool. Ben!
Where are you? he asked.
I don't know. I was being interrogated but I got away and ran.
Kylo made a fist. The interrogation rooms. Who had taken her there and why? What is around you?
I don't know, she said. Wait, I'm around the corner from a store?
The commissary. She had to be near the commissary. Don't worry, I'll find you, he tried to send her assurance through their Force bond. He wanted it to feel like a warm blanket around her. He exited her quarters and grabbed a protocol droid. "Can you tell me where the commissary is?" he unfortunately had no idea as he had never been there, like many places on the base. The droid gave him directions and he almost ran, but composed himself and instead walked quickly. He couldn't go running through the base without attracting attention to himself. Navigating through what felt like endless hallways, he finally came upon the commissary. He continued walking past, looking for Rey. He spotted her standing in the corner.
He wanted to grab her up and hug her, but he couldn't risk doing that in front of so many people. He approached her. She put up her arms to hug him, but he grabbed her wrists to stop her. "Wait," he said quietly. He wished he could conceal that she had been crying. "Remember you're my prisoner," he whispered. She only nodded. He roughly grabbed her arm and started quickly walking. He was anxious to get her back to his quarters and find out what happened and set a pace so quick that she had trouble keeping up, giving people the image she was in trouble. "Let's go," he sharply said.
Kylo felt bad for all but dragging her, but they had appearances to keep up and he wanted to get to his quarters as quickly as possible. He had an overwhelming sense that she was in very serious danger. He was glad that he had been the one to find her before someone else had. They arrived and he quickly punched in the code, almost pushing her inside. He tore his helmet off, sending it across the room, "What is going on?" he held her by her shoulders, then crushed her to his body. She wrapped her arms around him, starting to cry again. He rubbed her back and her head, trying to soothe her. After a few moments, her crying subsided. He stepped back taking her face into his hands, "What happened?"
"I killed Hux and two of his men," her eyes dropped to the floor.
"What?! Why, how, what is going on, Rey? Start at the beginning. How did you get to the interrogation rooms?"
"Hux came here with two officers. He said they came on direct orders from Snoke. They drugged me and I woke up in an interrogation chair. He wanted me to tell him where Luke Skywalker is and the location of the Resistance base. He had an interrogation droid-"
"Snoke," Kylo growled, interrupting her. "Interrogation droid?" he continued, a dark look coming over his face. "Did they hurt you? Are you ok?"
"They did hurt me, but I'm ok now. I was given a sedative and a truth serum. He kept taunting me about you and it made me angry. Every time they hit me with the droid, the pain made me angry. The last thing he said was that Snoke was going to kill you because of me and I lost control and started screaming. It felt like the Force was erupting out of me. I shattered and bent the chair, destroyed the droid, the walls started to bend-" tears were streaming from her eyes.
Kylo interrupted her again, "The walls bent? You executed a Force scream. I knew you were powerful, but I had no idea..."
"They tried to draw their weapons, but I took them and shattered them, like you saw before. Then," she paused, choking back a sob.
He brushed her hair back from her face, "Then what?" he said softly.
"I, I killed one of the officers. I just turned my wrist and snapped his neck."
Kylo's jaw fell open, "Force kill? You Force killed a man?"
She nodded, "Both officers. I didn't know I could, I mean, I didn't think about it. I was enraged and it just...came naturally."
He nodded, understanding. "And Hux?"
"Force choke. I... laughed at him while he died."
Kylo almost laughed but figured she wouldn't appreciate that. He could only imagine the satisfaction that came with laughing at the demise of that sorry bastard. He was almost envious of her. "Don't be so upset. He deserved it."
"I'm not upset because I killed them! I'm upset because I don't feel bad or feel any regret! I'm upset because I liked it," she pulled him down and kissed him.
He pushed her back, "Rey, what are you doing?"
"I don't know!" she pulled him back to her, kissing him even more fiercely.
He pushed her back again, but not as far, holding on to her waist, "Rey, get a hold of yourself!"
"I can't!" she started crying uncontrollably, sobbing into his chest.
"Rey, Rey," he put his hands on the side of her head, rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs. He put his forehead to hers and tried to push calming images into her mind. The waterfalls of Naboo, green fields, mountains, Varykino, the lake house where Padme Amidala spent time with Anakin Skywalker. He felt her stop trembling. He continued to push peaceful, calm energy into her, a struggle for him; he had little experience with peaceful and calm energy. Still, it felt natural for him to soothe her. He would have to sort that out another time.
"Ben," she whispered, "I'm scared."
"You have nothing to be afraid of," he said, gently kissing her forehead.
"I'm scared of myself," she desperately grasped onto his robe.
Taking her by the hand, he led her gently to the mat where he slept. He sat and pulled her down with him. Scooting so that his back was against the corner of the wall, he pulled her close to him, holding her.
"Just rest for a moment, Rey. You killed Hux and that's going to have very serious implications. I'm not even sure what the consequences will be yet. Snoke will call me to his chambers any minute…"
"Snoke knows I killed him," she interrupted. "He...told me to. In my head."
"He's trying to turn you, I'm sure. I need time to sort this out, Rey. He could demand that I kill you, and I can't. I won't."
She stared at him wide eyed, "Shit, Ben. I..I didn't think about the repercussions when I was choking that bastard…"
"It's done now," he squeezed her hand gently, "No time for regrets, Rey," he paused. "Have you...turned...to the Dark Side?" This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen, not in his eyes, anyhow.
She lowered her head, "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe I don't have any choice in the matter and I have to accept who I am."
Kylo Ren to my chambers NOW! Snoke interrupted, his command echoing through both of their heads through the Force.
Rey's eyes searched Ben's. "What's your plan?" she asked.
His expression was grim, the look in his eyes somber. "I don't have a plan, Rey. Stay here in my quarters, do not leave. Even if they come looking for you, they can't get in here. No one but me has the code. Do you understand? Do not leave!'
Rey nodded and terror seized her limbs. What if Snoke killed him? What would happen to her? What if….
"Stop, Rey," Kylo interrupted her thoughts, reading the fear in her eyes. "I won't let him kill me, and I won't let him kill you."
Again she nodded, unable to do much else. She pressed her lips together in a grim line. He shifted to stand and she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, pressing her lips into the side of his neck. "I love you, Ben." The words rushed out, tumbling over each other in their haste. She had to say it to him at least once before he… She couldn't finish the thought.
Ben wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her closer. A moment later, he released her and pulled back, framing her face in his hands. He looked into her eyes for what he hoped wasn't the last time. "I love you, too, Rey. Please don't worry. Just promise me you won't leave this room." He gently kissed her lips.
She nodded, tears welling in her eyes. Before he could think about it any more, he stood, squeezing her hand before he turned to walk out of the room.