The sound of Kylo Ren's ship pounded into Rey's ears. He landed just at the edge of the clearing, entering the wide circle just behind her as she faced the haggard, drawn figure dressed in a gaudy golden robe.

While Kylo Ren's appearance had always caused trepidation in her heart before, she found her feeling toward him somewhat welcoming as he strode purposefully down the gangplank of his ship, hands clinched into fists. Rey noticed his usual cape was nowhere to be seen.

"Kylo Ren," the creature cooed, "thank you so much for bringing her to me," he said, motioning toward Rey. He pulled a lightsaber from the belt of his robe and casually placed it beside him on an old tree stump.

"Snoke." The word was the only reply Kylo Ren offered.

The creature he called Snoke smiled demurely.

Rey glanced between the two, feeling quite as if she had delivered herself into this situation and Kylo Ren was taking credit unduly. He had indeed scared her into running from the castle, that she admitted to herself.

Rey took a step back, increasing the distance between Snoke and herself and closing the distance with Kylo Ren as he continued to slowly enter the circle. The glow from the lava around them continued to spray an uneven red glare around the edges of the circle.

"Did you think I wouldn't see your plan? I brought her to your castle. Would a star pilot of the resistance really get lost on a planet like Jakku?" Snoke sneered at Rey as she stopped, having moved back as far as she dared. Kylo Ren was only a step behind her.

"You will kneel." Snoke said, and suddenly Rey felt a wave pass through the Force around her as Kylo Ren fell to his knees.

"You," Snoke turned his gaze to Rey.

"You are just finding your connection to the Force, so it was especially easy to bridge your minds once you met." Snoke hissed.

Rey remembered seeing Kylo Ren without his mask in the vision, it must have been the bridge this foul creature had created.

"After all the fun I have had with Ben Solo, turning him into this...monster." He paused.

Rey's mind seized onto the name of Ben Solo.

"What fun masks are, perhaps you would like one too, my child?" With those words, Rey felt herself being lifted from her feet and pushed into the air above Kylo Ren.

Rey imagined this was how he must have come to be his current prison. She guessed her fate was sealed, as his was.

Her body was frozen with pain, intense and palpable. She screamed in agony, willing herself to hold in the shrieking but finding the effort beyond her ability.

Without warning, Snoke dropped her back to the ground.

"You can place me in a mask, but you'll never turn me into a monster." She spat the words at him as her energy returned. She breathed deeply, trying to regain some semblance of strength.

Kylo Ren didn't move from his place on one knee. As soon as she was on her feet Snoke was pulling her toward himself, only stopping her inches from him.

"Such spunk. You will serve me only one way, I see." Snoke sneered. He spun her around and pushed her through the Force back to Kylo Ren, planting her on her knees, locked onto an invisible floor beneath her, inches above the ground, just before Kylo Ren. He slowly stood to his feet.

"Kill her." Kylo Ren looked down at Rey. Her eyes were filling with unbidden tears she wouldn't allow to fall. She couldn't read his expression or meet his eyes behind that blasted mask.

Snoke snickered somewhere behind her as she stared at the masked man above her.

"Kill her and you shall have your freedom, child."

At this, Kylo Ren's head lifted. No longer taking in Rey's image, he looked at Snoke.

"Yes," Snoke hissed, "The curse will be lifted. Simply prove your allegiance to me."

Kylo Ren looked down again. Rey stared at him, imagining the eyes of the boy in the painting under the mask. The face of the man she had seen in the vision only briefly, flashed through her mind as she stared into the blackness.

"Ben," she whispered.

Snoke burst into outright laughter behind her.

"You think you can turn him? I just offered him his freedom, child, he won't pass it up."

Kylo Ren raised the ignited lightsaber toward her. She wanted to flinch, to close her eyes and let her tears fall unheeded. But she never took her eyes off Kylo Ren's mask.

The red glow of his cracklings saber illuminated the space between them.

"Kill her and free yourself."

Suddenly, Rey heard a lightsaber ignite behind her and she fell to the ground in a heap as the forces suspending her broke. She clamored to her knees, turning to face Snoke, but his body lay haphazardly strewn about in two halves. The lightsaber that had so skillfully dispatched him landed neatly in her own hand.

Suppressing a gasp, she turned back to Kylo Ren, gripping the lightsaber in her trembling fingers.

He extended his gloved hand towards her, which she accepted without hesitation. Wordlessly, he pulled her to her feet and they faced each other for just a moment as each noticed the movement coordinating around them. Moving as one, they turned their backs to each other, igniting their light sabers.

Together, they faced the wolves.