Rey had trouble looking at Kylo Ren's face. This was the same man who'd murdered someone in front of her, whose visage had twisted and snarled in rage as he'd nearly killed Finn then attacked her viciously. This was the face she'd dreamed about every night for two months, a brighter twin to Ren's darkness, a man who'd cared for her and waited for her and who'd loved her. She couldn't allow herself to dwell on the fantasy. The reality sat across from her, hands resting on the table in his cell, waiting for her to speak.

"How did you sleep?"

He gave her an annoyed glare. "As well as could be expected when I'm wearing a collar in a prison cell."

She leapt at the opening. "We can discuss removing the collar and letting you out of the cell."

Ren smiled, but it was cold. "I doubt that. I'm safer locked away. You can make all the promises you like and feel bad when you break them later."

She shrugged. "If you don't want the collar off, just say so."

"You're the one who liked being tied down."

She wouldn't let herself flinch. Their conversation was being monitored. She hadn't told Luke everything, although he'd probably guessed what she had held back. Willing herself into a serenity she didn't feel, Rey said, "You liked it more."

"Maybe I did." His gaze remained disconcertingly direct. "Are you here to reminisce about old times? Because I have plenty of stories I'm sure our audience doesn't want to hear."

"I don't care if you write a tell-all in your memoirs after you're set free. I'll even show up for the book signing." The words were braver than she felt. Without his powers, he wouldn't know, not for certain. "We need information."

He sat back. "Your little Resistance needs many things. Information is the least of your worries."

"It's your biggest worry, because that's going to make the difference between your walking out of here, and staying in this cell until you rot. My vote is for the rot, but that's only because I'm not allowed to airlock you."

The smile returned, and was joined by a laugh of disbelief. "Are you actually trying to play Bad Inquisitor with me? Perhaps you didn't notice, but the first time we met, that was my job."

"I remember." Rey would never forget the icy, painful prick of his mind invading hers as she'd struggled to keep him out. "I also remember that you hate yourself for it."

"Oh, did I manage to convince you? I'm better than I thought." His tone aimed for cruel, and he very nearly hid his twitch. "I assure you, my only regret is that I can't do it all again, only harder and worse."

She blinked at him. "Do you think this posturing intimidates anyone? I've been in your head. You can't fool me, and you're certainly not fooling them," she said, waving her hand at the camera. "I can only assume this is for your own benefit, and that's just sad." She leaned forward. "No one cares if you run around in your pathetic Darth Vader costume."

The twitch was harder to hide this time. One hand pulled into a fist, although she wasn't sure he'd even noticed. He took a long breath. "You're looking well. No more freezing nights on Basteel?"

"Thanks to you. Does the First Order know you gave us the command codes to the Star Destroyer?"

"I informed the Supreme Leader of what happened." His eyes were steady, but Rey wondered how Snoke had taken the information from him, if he had reached into Ren's brain and forced the truth from him, or if he'd gone willingly, sniveling to his master.

"And you're not dead? I'm impressed. I gathered you'd have been executed for incompetence. You didn't get the intel you wanted, and you gave more away."

"I took what I needed. I always do."

"You played with a drug that enhanced your powers and you were asleep for four days, at the end of which you helped disable one of your own ships." She let herself take in his appearance. He was thinner than she remembered, sharper. "How long ago was it for you? Time doesn't work the same in visions as it does in the real world."

"Not long."

That was useful. If he only woke up a few days ago, he still would remember his time in the dream world with the clarity of a new memory. "They didn't wake you?"

"I was discovered in my quarters three days into my vision. I was taken to the medical station for observation."

She wondered if that was when he'd called to her from across the stars, unwittingly reaching out from what his mind believed was a long isolation. Her dream self first woke in a hospital.

It had taken three days for anyone to notice he'd been missing.

"If they hadn't found you, you'd have died."

"The med droids didn't know what to make of my condition. Apparently one of my colleagues urged them to remove the feeding lines and allow me to die there." He scowled at the memory. "Fortunately I revived without their help." His eyes focused and flicked to her face. "You woke me. How does it feel to know you saved my life?"

"I liked you better when you were asleep."

"He's gone, you know." His voice went cold. "That person was a dream. Don't delude yourself into thinking he's ever coming back."

"No. You killed him." She'd carried her grief silently, knowing she had no right. Ben had only ever been a fantasy, built of Ren's wishes and her own. There was no one to mourn. If he'd seemed real, if Rey had allowed herself to believe she'd fallen in love with him, that was merely part of a very vivid dream.

"You gave the order."

"What?"

"You forced him to destroy himself for your sake. You begged. You knew what would happen. You called me back." She read it then, without hearing his thoughts, only seeing the face she'd spent so much time learning. Ren could snarl and he could fight, but he grieved for the man he never was, too.

Rey stood, the air in the room too thick for her to breathe. "Then I suppose we're both heartless killers. The difference is, I'm offering you a chance to atone for some of your crimes. Ben would take the offer."

"Are you sure?" he asked, as she knocked twice on the cell door.

"Yes."

The door opened. Rey stepped out and waited for Luke to relock the cell.

She spent more time than she needed washing her face and letting the shakes go away. She'd faced him, and they hadn't tried killing each other, or doing anything else to each other. Still, her body soaked in adrenaline and fear, and far more heartache than she'd dare express. It took her a while to regain the composure she'd only pretended at during their interview.

At last, Rey rejoined Luke and Lando in the small room they were using as a monitoring station and general living quarters. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Luke said. "You should have seen me after the first time I talked with him."

"He was a mess," Lando said. "You're doing fine. Ben hasn't been this chatty since we locked him up."

"You mean it?"

Luke nodded. "He's been shut up tight except when he comes out with something awful. I hate to say this, but I think he likes you." Rey glowered, but Luke only gave her half a shrug. "In his case, that means he's identified you as an enemy he doesn't plan to kill soon."

That sounded more reasonable. "Should I go back in?"

"That's your decision. If you think it will be bad for you, don't."

Lando said, "Even if you do, let him stew for a while." He pointed to the screen, where Ren paced his cell with far more agitation than she would have expected. She'd upset him. That only seemed fair.

"I'll wait. Thirty minutes."

"That should be enough time," Luke said.

After thirty-two minutes, she walked back into the cell, returning to her chair at the table. Ren had composed himself and sat on his bedroll, not looking at her.

"Will you be joining me?" she asked, after a long pause.

"I'm comfortable here."

"Then I'll leave you to your comforts," she said, standing up and walking towards the door.

"You can stay." The words came out too fast, with a hint of desperation hiding like a thorn inside the bouquet of condescension.

"I'm here to talk. If you don't want to talk, I'll go."

He stood and took his place in the other chair, waiting for Rey to sit down again. She considered walking out and letting him worry further. Then she sat in her chair.

"I'd like to talk about your freedom. You know Luke has the only key to your pretty necklace."

"I've wondered about that. I've had time to think. You won't have been planning this long. My jewelry," he said, tugging absently on the collar, "is a very rare artifact. We've been searching for years to locate even one, but my dear uncle has a functioning model on hand at just the right time? Interesting coincidence, don't you think?"

She smiled tightly. "You've never been far from his thoughts."

He returned the false smile. "I'm not the Force adept he's been working with. He didn't tell you he had this, did he? Didn't you ever stop to consider this was meant to contain you should you ever step out of line?"

"No. Because that's stupid." She hated the reply, wishing she could think of a more cutting answer. She didn't believe for a moment Luke had obtained the collar to freeze her powers. Except she'd seen everything he'd brought with him from Ahch-To, and the collar hadn't been among his few possessions. Chewbacca must have brought it, along with her shield, after she'd started having visions.

"If you say so," Ren said, watching her eyes carefully. "I will say, when we got married, I gave you a much nicer necklace than this one. Do you remember?"

"No, because we're not married. That was fake."

He put on a blatantly false expression of horror. "Don't say that. What will the children think?"

"We didn't have children. You're defective."

There was the flash of anger she'd been expecting. As prisoner interrogations went, this was not going to be remembered for gathering intel, but Rey was feeling much better now. He recovered. "I prefer to think of myself as unique."

"That tracks. You think you're special. You're not. That's why you're afraid of me."

"I wouldn't call it fear. I'm stronger than you. I'm better trained than you. I'm better armed than you."

"Maybe, but you're the one in captivity."

"You've said that's temporary. Should I believe you? Because we both know if you ever set me free, I can kill you easily."

"You failed before. You'll fail again. It must be hard to realize you're such a disappointment to everyone."

"Everyone?" His mouth had gone back to its amused half-smile, taunting her. "That's a rather large claim. Be more specific."

He was playing a game but she didn't know the rules of this one. She ought to walk out again. Instead, she played along. "Your attempt at a Force vision nearly killed you, and resulted in another Resistance victory. Snoke can't be very happy with that, or with your getting captured. That's assuming he doesn't think you died while failing your mission. You know how big a disappointment you are to your family. If I'd had your family, I'd have done anything to keep them happy."

His eyes brightened. She'd played what he wanted. "Which one are we talking about? The criminal or the terrorist?" He leaned forward. "Or are you referring to the religious fanatic raising the child army? Really, there's a selection of terrible people to choose from even before we stretch back to the famous tyrant."

None of the barbs had been meant for her ears. Ren knew he was being watched, and he knew the charges would strike home. Yes, in the strictest sense of things, Han Solo had spent most of his life operating on the wrong side of the law. General Organa had been involved in violent counter-Imperial activities throughout her youth and had been running a very similar organization for the last several years. The Jedi, as far as Rey had learned, were a quasi-religious order who trained their number from a very young age to use their powers. None of that made his words true.

He read her face. "There's a phrase you will come to dread. 'From a certain point of view.' It means the people around you have been lying to you, and will continue to lie to you, because they would like to pretend it's for your own good. From a certain point of view, my grandfather was a Jedi Knight who perished in the great purge. It's the story my mother has told herself so many times she very nearly believes it's true." He tilted his head towards Rey. "Just think of the fun you're going to have discovering all the things they're lying to you about." He stroked his neck absently.

"As fascinating as it isn't to listen to your tirades about how hard your childhood was growing up in comfort and care, I'm here to talk about other things."

He dismissed her with a sigh. "This again?"

"This is the only thing there is. We want to know what you know about the Ladon'kres. If you're good, you might be allowed out for a walk."

He blinked at her. Then, in a singsong voice, he began to recite something in a language she couldn't quite follow. Gold and brass, fire and flood, something with angels and dancing stars.

"And that is?" she asked when he stopped.

"You don't know? That's the nursery rhyme. I prefer it in Rodese. The cadences are soothing." His eyes flickered away for a moment before returning to her. She wondered who'd sung it to him. One of his caretakers loved telling stories, and spoke over six million languages. She pictured the golden droid, never bored, repeating the same song over and over to a demanding four year old.

"I know the basics of the story," she said. Her dream-father had told her, but Ren knew the tale. It would have been from his head. "The First Order is looking for them."

"Are they?"

"So I've heard. What have you found out?"

"I'm not involved with that. I couldn't say."

"You've seen reports from the dig. That's why my parents were archaeologists. You remembered."

"It was dull," he said, folding his arms and turning away from her.

"You remembered despite it being dull. What else do you know?"

"Nothing. I wasn't tasked with finding that weapon."

She could force the thought out of his head, the same as he'd done to her. That would necessitate removing his binding, which was too dangerous. Also, she reminded herself belatedly, delving into his mind without permission would be wrong although it could save countless lives. She made an effort not to squirm in her chair as he watched her consider her options. They didn't need telepathy to follow the drift of the other's thoughts.

"There's some sort of weapon," she said. "If the First Order finds it first, they'll annihilate everyone in their path. That's the future you're committing to. Billions died with the Starkiller blast. How many billions more will it take for you to care?"

"I couldn't have stopped the Starkiller," he said, voice gone quiet. "It was a military base, a military strike, and a military decision. I'm not in the military chain of command, and I wasn't present when the order was given. I was busy hunting you."

"You could have tried. You could have stood against it. We did."

"You got lucky. It won't happen twice." He lowered his chin, eyes still on hers. "Let us say the First Order is attempting to acquire something, for the sake of argument. What do you possibly think you could do to stop them?"

"I could get there first."

"Would you use the weapon yourself?"

She stopped herself from answering quickly, instead forcing a moment's thought. "I'd hide it away. Or destroy it forever."

"Hiding doesn't work. It's been hidden for two hundred thousand years. Destroying it will merely delay. Once something like that exists, someone clever and amoral enough will build another."

"Only if they know what it is for certain, and have an idea how it works. We get there first, we make sure they never have that chance."

"A fascinating idea, except you've already admitted you don't know what it is, either. You're chasing the First Order. They will get to their goal first, and they will use the weapon against you. So why bother chasing them?"

"Because they'll murder more people. Are you willing to stand aside and let that happen?"

"Much better than standing in front of them and getting killed, too."

"You're a coward."

"A pragmatist."

"A fool. Complain about your current condition all you want. Snoke has you on a tighter chain. You're afraid of what they'll do to you if you step out of line. Not only was Ben smarter than you, he was braver as well."

His jaw tightened. "Are you still comparing me to someone who doesn't exist? I admit your little crush was flattering at first, but this has become tedious." He stood and went back to his bedroll, resting his head on his hands. "Come back when you're interested in talking with me. Don't send in anyone who's under a similar delusion that I'm someone I'm not."

She held her anger. He was goading her because he could. If Rey stormed out, he'd win. "I'll stay."

He closed his eyes and ignored her.

"I do know who you are," she said after a long time. "I knew who you were inside the dream. I told you from the beginning. You were the one who wanted me to believe you were more than this. You fought me every day, until I let myself believe you weren't just the vicious, heartless killer from my nightmares. You can argue now but remember I went into the dream long after you did. You were the one who wanted me to think you were a better man than you are."

"It doesn't matter," he said.

"It does."

He sighed loudly. "What do you want, Rey?"

"Information."

"No." His eyes opened again. "They want information. You don't care any more than I do."

"I care. Billions of lives hang in the balance."

"People you've never met? Threatened by a weapon I'm willing to believe you never heard of until a day or two ago? Good is an abstract. Motivation is flesh and bone. You know mine. I don't want to die. The First Order is the strongest power in the galaxy, and they will win. They've offered me power and a place in exchange for petty adherence to loyalty."

"You had a place. You had a home. You had safety and people who loved you."

"Then I woke up."

"You got scared. You've said so."

"You still haven't said what you want out of this. I have no reason to help you, and you have no reason to keep trying. Why are you here?"

Because she knew he would listen to her and respond to her. Because she owed the galaxy every chance at peace. Because she couldn't bear disappointing Luke or his sister again.

Because she wondered, deep in the most hidden part of her heart, if she could dig past the vile layers of Kylo Ren and excavate the soul of the man she'd loved.

"I'm just following orders."

"She can't give you orders unless you agree to follow them. The Resistance is an all volunteer affair, I've been told."

"You've been told correctly. We're here because we want to be."

"Which leads me back to my questions. What do you want? Why are you here? Don't say orders." He glanced up at the camera. "You shouldn't give her orders, Mother," he said in a loud voice. "She'll only start resenting you."

Rey stifled her eye roll. "Don't bother. She's not watching."

"Bored by me so soon? Not much of a change there."

"She had work to do. She went back without you."

A half smile crossed his face. He looked up at the camera again. "I see. How well did they bolt that chair to the floor?"

Before she could ask why, he touched his neck. The collar fell off. She felt his presence suddenly, enormous and intense. Rey stumbled to her feet, but with an idle hand he pushed her back into the chair from across the room. He closed his eyes, and the station rumbled. The pressure against her stole her breath from her body. She couldn't speak.

"What have you done?"

"I just decompressed the rest of the station. The cell block is on its own grid."

She didn't have the air to scream, instead reached out with her mind to Luke, frantic.

"Don't bother," Ren said, rising to his feet. "Sadly, he and Calrissian are very resourceful, and worse, very lucky. I'm estimating only a five percent chance that they won't survive." He stared at her, and she felt his awful touch riffling through her thoughts. "And they're the only ones here. I was hoping to have jettisoned Dameron or Chewbacca, but you can't have everything."

She waited, letting her muscles ready themselves. The second his hold wavered, Rey was on her feet, fists out. She had no weapons with her, but she'd survived many fights unarmed, and she'd been training. She landed the first punch before his foot took her in the knee.

"Stay down," he said, and pushed her back with the Force. A moment later, she felt a horrible, icy darkness surround her throat. The gossamer connection she'd always felt with the world around her, a sense so normal that she'd never noticed before, cut off abruptly as the collar locked into place.

"You honestly believed it had only one key?" He said, mockingly, holding out a tiny chip, almost too small to see, very easy to have hidden on himself. "We searched for this artifact for months. It took longer to find a way for our agent to sell it to the Wookiee."

Rey wanted to claw at her neck. She couldn't feel his thoughts now. She couldn't sense anything. She couldn't move.

Ren smiled as he watched her try to move. "I told you, I wasn't ordered to bring back the Ladon'kres weapon. I was ordered to bring back a different one."

With a flick of his hand, he sent her into unconsciousness.

Reviews welcome. Did you catch on to his plan?