Alpha-Wolf619- Oh My God it's been forever and I'm so sorry about that. Here's a double update to apologize for the long delay. About Rey; I wouldn't say that she's fully trained, because most fully trained jedi take an entire lifetime to get that way. However, she is a lot more efficient and knowledgable now, so she actually knows how to use the force to her advantage. About the lightsaber/staff; i was thinking how in star wars rebels Ezra attaches his lightsaber to his blaster because it was his preferred weapon, so i thought it would be only fair to let Rey do the same.

Iris woke up from her nap with wide eyes and a killer headache. She'd just had the most bizarre dream… or maybe it was a nightmare. At least she was awake now, though, and she didn't have to be scared anymore. At least not of her dreams. There were still plenty of other dangers around her.

Iris sat up, and tried twisting the kink out of her back. She was so used to sleeping over the lump in Finn's tent that it hurt worse to sleep on the flat ground. She carefully reached up and grabbed at the clasp of her necklace. Once it was off, she shoved it into the bottom of her small bag. If Kylo Ren happened to be listening in, there were some things that Iris didn't want him to overhear.

She looked over at the shape next to her, and realized that Finn was sleeping. She was still in her own tent, though, which meant that Finn had decided to join her. Probably because he had already figured out that Iris preferred not to have to sleep on her own. So she left the tent as quietly as possible in order to not wake him, and once outside, she stared up at the beautiful night sky. It was hard to believe that Kylo Ren could ever want to destroy something so serene and pretty. But it wasn't Iris's place to question his decisions.

It wasn't hard for Iris to track down Rey; all she had to do was follow that awkward buzzing feeling. It grew stronger when she focused on it, and even when she tried to push it away she could still feel it in the back of her mind, so she figured that she may as well use it to her advantage.

Iris found Rey and Poe sitting in front of a blazing campfire, and the whole scene seemed very cozy. Iris was unsure of whether she should be interrupting the moment between friends. Before she could turn and leave, though, Rey spotted her, and Poe looked up a moment later. Iris shuffled forward, wishing that she'd just stayed in her tent after all.

Rey didn't say anything, just stared at Iris like she was trying to read her mind. Iris shivered uncomfortably. She knew that she kept throwing mixed signals at Rey when it came to the topic of a potential friendship between them. But she also knew that she had to get the jedi on her side to avoid having her whole life looked into.

Iris took a deep breath, and sat down on the other side of the fire. She made sure not to get too close, so that the little embers flying around wouldn't land on her. She spoke without actually looking at either of her listeners. "I think that it was a dick move to shoot at me with a blaster. And I don't believe you about the other stuff." She finally looked up at Rey, whose expression was impossible to read. "You could've destroyed that blaster for all I know."

Rey heard the vulnerability in Iris's voice, and she knew that Iris had already accepted the truth. She was simply protesting because it was easier if it wasn't true. Rey spoke in a gentle voice. "Iris, you're right. Poe was a dick to shoot at you," Poe's protest was cut off by a stern glance from Rey. "But I promise that I would've stopped you from getting hurt if you hadn't stopped it yourself. Iris, you can't deny the force. It's a part of you. It makes you different from other people, sure, but it doesn't change anything about who you were yesterday. You're still the same person. If you try to shove the force away, you're only going to hurt yourself. Just close your eyes for a moment. Take a few deep breaths. I want you to listen. Not to any of the sounds around us, though. I want you to listen for the things that can't be heard. Can you do that?"

Iris scowled. "Fine." She took a deep breath, and squeezed her eyes shut as tight as possible. She could hear the crackling of the fire in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, but that didn't fix anything. A moment later, Iris was startled by the feeling of someone gently taking her hand. She instinctively knew it was Rey (unless Poe's hands were a lot more feminine than Iris thought), but she didn't open her eyes to look.

Iris realized then that all the muscles in her body were tensed up. That couldn't be right. So she took a few more deep breaths, and let her shoulders slump down, and she eased the pressure on her eyes.

After convincing her body to relax, the sound of the fire slowly faded away. It was replaced by that buzzing sound that was becoming rather familiar. Beyond the buzzing, there was something else.

Iris frowned as she tried to drag the new sound closer to her. When that didn't work, she pushed herself closer to the sound. At first, she was scared, like she was approaching a giant waterfall that could easily crush her at the bottom. As she got closer, though, the fear began to melt away.

In its place was a feeling of peace. Iris couldn't remember ever feeling so peaceful before in her entire life. All of her worries were being gently washed away by the waterfall. Iris realized that she wasn't alone there. Rey was there as well, brightly glowing. There were other people and animals, some appearing duller than others.

A feeling of joy began to spread over Iris. Of course she wasn't alone anymore. She didn't need to keep spying for Ky-

Iris had to tear herself away from the river and the waterfall, and it felt like she was stabbing herself right in the heart. But she had to do it. If Rey had caught onto that last thought- if any of them had- then Iris was finished. The pain was unbearable, like pulling away from the needle just before the stitches were complete, tearing the whole wound back open.

Once Iris's senses returned to her, she realized that she was writhing on the ground, and her cheeks were wet from tears. She immediately pressed one hand to her chest to make sure she hadn't been stabbed, and she could feel her heart pounding frantically.

Rey was looking at iris with guilt and concern written all over her face. "Iris? What happened?"

What had happened was Iris almost giving away her most important secret. She scrambled to her feet without help, though her legs were shaking. "Stupid jedi mind tricks bullshit!" she spat angrily.

Rey's eyes widened. "But you seemed to be doing so well. A lot better than my first attempt at meditation. So what happened? Did the force show you something?"

Iris shook her head stubbornly, and she didn't care that she could still feel tears rolling down her face. "Your stupid tricks won't work on me!" Iris hated the way that her whole body was shaking. She felt weak, like a child, and exposed, like all of her skin had been peeled away. Her legs gave out, and Iris collapsed back to the ground. "They won't work on me," she insisted in a feeble voice.

Poe took his jacket off and wrapped it around Iris's shoulders. h e looked over at Rey. "What did you do?"

Rey shrugged helplessly, looking just as lost as Poe. "I- I don't know. It should have just been simple meditation." She pressed her hands up against her face. "I'm nowhere close to being a teacher. I shouldn't have tried anything with her."

As Poe pulled iris closer, trying to keep her warm, he shook his head at Rey. "I think you'd be a great teacher. But…" he looked down at Iris, who was curled up in a ball. "To be a good teacher, you need a student willing to learn. I think you were doing fine. I'm as sensitive to the force as a rock is, but I could see the harmony between you two, until she pulled away."

Rey sighed, still sounding unsure of herself. "I don't know why she'd pull away like that. The force wouldn't have shown her anything she wasn't ready to see. But what could be so bad that that," she gestured to Iris's current state, "could be better?"

Poe shrugged. "Maybe it just comes back to how damn emotionally constipated stormtroopers are." He was trying to lighten the mood, but Rey interpreted his comment in a more literal sense.

"Iris? I know that I don't know you that well, but if you're ever willing to talk to me again, I'm here-" A soft mumble came out from beneath Poe's jacket. Rey leaned closer. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you."

Iris pulled the jacket away so her face was visible. "Where's your droid? The little orange beach ball?"

Rey looked even more intrigued than she had a moment ago. "How do you know about him?"

Iris scowled and looked down at the ground. "He was at the waterfall." she mutturered.

Poe tilted his head curiously. "Huh. How did I not notice his absence earlier? Where did BB-8 end up?"

Rey smiled. "Skywalker got a bit lonely, and he speaks droid, so BB-8 decided to stay with him." She gave Iris a strange look. "All living things are a part of the force. But droids aren't technically living. They have no organic material in them."

Iris shrugged, looking annoyed. "I didn't say anything about the force." She handed Poe his jacket back, then got to her feet for a second time. "I tried to be civil. But using your evil hypnosis power on me is the last straw." She hurried back to her tent. Iris knew that no matter how much she liked it in that serene place she'd visited, she could never go back. It was way too dangerou. She also wanted to hate it for causing so much pain, but she knew she had only herself to blame for that part.

Even as she walked back to her tent, there was still a dull ache in her chest. It felt like someone had reached in, ripped out her heart, and just left the empty space. As she stepped into her tent, she had to reach up to brush away more tears. There was a part of her that knew without a doubt that her and Rey had the potential to be great friends.

But Iris had already sworn her loyalties to Kylo Ren, and she could find no reason to betray him. After an awkwardly long time of just standing in the doorway, iris realized that Finn was talking to her. "-wrong? You look awful."

Iris brushed aside the concern. She knew that she'd let herself grow too close with these people. Letting them into her heart was only going to make her inevitable betrayal harder. No, it wouldn't be a betrayal. It would only be Iris doing her job. "I stubbed my toe."

Finn raised one eyebrow. "I mean, stubbing a toe is painful, but is it really full-on-bawling painful?"

Iris nodded blandly. "Yes. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone now."

Finn got up and stretched. "I didn't mean to impose." He said it light-heartedly, but Iris knew that he was a little hurt at being kicked out after going out of his way to try and comfort her. It was better this way. Iris should've never let herself grow so close with the enemy in the first place.

After Finn had pulled his shoes on and left, iris zipped up her tent, and curled into a ball in the corner. What was she thinking, letting herself befriend the bad guys? Nearly outing herself as a spy? Iris may have been at the top of her class back at the academy, but out in the real world, she just sucked. Maybe someone else should've been sent on this mission. Maybe that annoying kid from her class… whose ID she couldn't even remember anymore anyways.

Iris hugged her knees closer to her chest. She was a failure. She'd failed Kylo Ren by becoming friendly with the rebels, and she'd failed her squad by leaving for this mission, and she'd failed the rebels by being a spy, and she'd failed the force by-

Iris sat up suddenly. She'd never failed the force. If it was truly a part of her, and she a part of it, then the force had failed her by never stepping in sooner. Iris closer her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to get back to the waterfall. It was a dangerous place, but it was the only place she could go to make the force answer for itself. She only had one question. Why had it never saved her before? Almost immediately after closing her eyes and relaxing her body, she could see a picture forming in her mind, in more detail than any old memory.

C-7717 was five, and she knew more than anything that she wasn't where she wanted to be. She didn't know what else there was, but there had to be something better out there.

C-7717 already knew that she was better than the other kids. She had a certain grace and flow to her movements that they all lacked. C-7717 was also smarter than the other kids. She knew she needed to get out.

One day, they were all given little blasters. There was an older woman who seemed opposed to the idea, but she was nobody important. Her opinion didn't matter.

The kids were all being encouraged to have mini battles with each other. They all thought it was a game. C-7717 knew that it wasn't. She knew that it was a test, and she didn't want to lose. She watched kids around her falling to the ground as they were shot, and she didn't have time to figure out if they were still breathing or not.

C-7717 shot a few crates, and used the resulting explosions as a cover as she ran for one of the air ducts in the room. She shot at it until the grate fell open, and crawled in. Even if one of the scary guys observing them did happen to see her, they'd never be able to follow, because the ducts weren't big enough to hold grown-ups.

Unfortunately, C-7717 didn't know the layout of the academy, so she ended up wandering aimlessly through the ducts for a while. It took three days, but C-7717 finally found her way towards what seemed to be an exit.

She shot the grate open, and dropped down into a room of surprised stormtroopers. As she ran for the doors, she shot as many of the adults as she could without bothering to look back. If she had looked back, she would've only seen them falling to the floor stunned, not dead. A few feet away from the exit, someone wrapped their arms around her middle, grabbing her from behind.

While she struggled to get free, someone else grabbed her blaster from her, and the first one who'd grabbed her picked her up. She flailed her arms and legs, struggling to get free. "No! Let me goooo!"

She was dragged, kicking and screaming, to the office of some important looking guy, who had an awkward looking teenager standing behind him. The man tilted his head. "So this is the brat you eluded capture for several days? She doesn't seem so tough me." He shrugged like he was bored. "Obviously some rebel blood in this one. Well, you know what we do with the duds."

C-7717 wasn't stupid. She knew they were going to kill her. And she knew that she wasn't strong enough to get away. She went completely limp in her captor's arms. She was giving up. There was no point in fighting anymore. She'd known as soon as she'd run that her life had been forfeit, but she'd really thought that it was possible for her to get away.

"Wait-" the teenager stepped forward. "You've seen her test scores. Her aptitude is off the charts."

The man frowned. "True. but there is no place for a rebellious soldier in our troops."

The teen gave C-7717 a long look. She shivered and looked away, not able to meet his eyes. "So re-educate her and throw her back in her class. It would be a shame to waste so much potential."

The man shook his head. "I don't think-"

"You will do as I say," the teen commanded in a cold voice. "I am your superior."

The man nodded, not looking very happy about it. "Take her to be re-educated." He glanced at the teen. "And I suppose you'll be expecting me to take responsibility if if things end badly?"

The teen shook his head. "No. I'll watch over her." He looked at the trooper still holding C-7717. "Oh and don't change her identification number."

The trooper frowned. "But-" he cut himself off when he saw the teen's angry scowl. "Yes sir."

C-7717 was brought to a strange room she'd never been to before. As the door closed and she was left alone in the dark, she couldn't help wondering if death would've been the easier option.