Chapter 28


She was ready to fear the fall. If overcome, fear never killed anyone.

What she didn't anticipate was the pain she felt during her descent. The wind was slicing her skin in half. Her stomach dropped and pushed her entrails; her hair kept choking her when she tried to get a scoop of oxygen into her mouth. Rey was kicking her legs like scissors and her arms were nailed to an imaginary cross.

She was looking up, always up towards the battle fireworks. She heard Ren's cry; that raw plea which nearly tore the mountain apart. It evoked a sick sense of satisfaction, to cause him as much pain as he had caused her.

Bereft of sanity, she was falling. The further down she fell, darker it got. That darkness and sharp torrents of air made her fear she was falling into empty space. Maybe the planet shifted, and she was falling into the space void; to freeze with the stars. The ground which would most likely kill her was pulling her down with insane speed. Rey's neck constricted and she struggled to breathe. At this rate, she would suffocate before she smashed to pieces.

She wasn't suicidal. She wouldn't let the fall kill her, no matter how much Ren broke her. She sensed a presence when she hovered in the air. A powerful Force user was standing down, just below the precipice.

"Let go and I will help you, if you need to run from him. The fall won't kill you." He whispered through the Force.

So, she let go.

Rey put all her mental strength into slowing down. She was forcing her body to go against the force of nature, the mighty pull of gravity. Another pair of hands was aiming at her body and directing it safely to the ground. She didn't slide elegantly like an autumn leaf; she collided with the crag walls. Her body was darting through the rock heart of the mountain, until she landed on the hard grovel. Fortunately, she had time to cover her face with her arms before the shards dug into her skin.

"AAAaaaaiinnnn llll ssssssss… uuuuu aaannnn up…."

Rey barely registered the water surface. The water was swishing in her ears; and the pain hit her directly between the eyes.

"Aaain wiiiilll passs…. Caaan youuuu aaand up…"

That bubbling and swishing didn't go away. She tried to swallow, but her jaw seemed to be dislocated, or maybe she lost the ability to talk.

"Pain will pass. Can you stand up?" The water morphed into a raspy voice. It belonged to a man slouched over her body.

Rey came to her senses. Face that was staring at her startled her. He had brown skin, green eyes and tattoos all across it. His horns betrayed his origin – he was from Dathomir.

"Can you move girl?" He growled.

Could she? Rey tried to bend her fingers.

"I don't mean that. I mean can you at least walk? I wouldn't want to be standing here for another hour; stormtroopers have cornered one Resistance battalion and they'll be heading this way, soon, with an army of droids to plug in." He swiveled his head to check their surroundings.

What was a Jedi doing fighting with the resistance on Korriban? In fact, why was he there and not with the troops?

"Stop thinking too loud, it's annoying." He sighed. He scratched his shaven chin and after a while, scooped Rey into his arms. She saw only that chin and the sky which turned from black to dark red. He was carrying her to the unknown. "I'm not a Jedi, by the way."

He wasn't? But the Force…

"Yes, yes. If the Force graced only the Jedi, the Galaxy would surely look a hell lot different. I'm a Force user, not a Jedi. My name is Tanakh and I'm with that fool, Skywalker. We're the liberating party here," he said, speaking Luke's name like acid burnt holes through steel.

He exuded an odor she couldn't quite place. It reminded her of a polisher she used to clean combustion valves on Jakku.

"It's Correlian brandy. You don't think I'd go into a battle sober, do you? Not after what I've been through, girl."

He was walking as if he carried nothing in his arms; his steps were light and fast. Rey channeled the Force. She was thinking about Finn and Poe, sitting together around a game of dejarik. She was memorizing parts of her favorite engines; she was laughing at the dirty joke Chewbacca had to explain in Wookie. She was thinking about all the silly things, all the happy memories she had mustered during past year.

Anything would do, to avoid the dark eyes and burning touch. She forbade her mind picturing his smooth face when he cradled her in his arms. She bit her tongue, despite the pain, because his taste in her mouth still prevailed. She'd rather have tasted blood, than him.

Rey needed the light side of the Force to replenish her strength, not the wretched caricature of love her and Kylo shared. Half the bones in her upper body ached with each step Tanakh took. She nearly cried, when she recalled how Ren healed some of her pain in the temple on Rakata.

No one was coming to her now. She had to heal herself.

Tanakh was privy to some of her emotions. He was not a trained Jedi, but he happened to be very strong with the Force for a member of the Church. He didn't pry intentionally, but what he felt emanating from her stunned him. She was transforming love into hatred in one single journey. Her soul was wailing for that man's touch, even though she crippled her body just to get away from him.

"It's not going to take long now. I'll get you to the Resistance. They'll take care of ya, don't worry, girl." He felt protective of her. She landed like a winter snowflake, all dressed in white. He wouldn't let her melt on this hot, red planet. Their eyes met. Hers were amber with green circles around her irises; Tanakh's shone like emerald gems, even in the night.

"Rey," she whispered aloud. "I'm…Rey." She found her voice, although barely.

"You mind telling me who did this to you, Rey?"

"Nobody did anything to me. I was in a fight and I lost. But I'll get back at…him." Rey gave him a reply of a child vowing to avenge that bully who kicked her sandcastle. Tanakh read between the lines. She obviously didn't like being labeled as a victim; so she insisted on losing fair and square.

"Hmm," he grunted," if you say so. You're lucky I was too drunk to hold a blaster straight and Skywalker sent me with a unit to set up a droid charging station, not far from where you fought."

"Did you…did you see?

"I felt."

It was true; he felt two powerful streams of energy pulsing above the mountain - hers and someone else's. Both were equally strong, dark and infused in the night side of the Force. When he called to her, he felt her resolve to survive, but not by that man's hand.

Who was he?

Why would she risk maiming herself, just to flee from him? That stunt she pulled was risky beyond imagining; but she was so strong with the Force, that he trusted his instincts and offered his help. Well, as much as two shaky hands of a drunk could offer.

Not only her pursed lips and wild will to survive made her a child in his arms. She could have just as easily returned back to the ground on the precipice without her enemy's help. But no – the vengeful spirit in her chose the option which she knew would inflict pain on him. Tanakh bared his teeth to her. He understood her.

"I think you lost no battle, Rey. You hurt him more than he did you."

The sky cleared as the last stars vanished in the sea of blue. Rey heard the screams and detonations; they were muffled at times. She was falling in and out of consciousness. Her body kept shutting down to heal in sleep. When she forced herself to look one last time, she saw two neon tubes on the ceiling, and then, she fell into blackness for the second time in one day.


The battle was over. Streets were littered with people bleeding, huddled together over pyres to keep them warm. Only occasional cough and distant moan permeated that mournful silence. The Resistance was helping survivors on their feet, and injured on the stretchers. A line formed, where technicians were removing the magnetic field collars from the necks of hundreds of slaves.

People who were once stripped of dignity were slowly getting it back. Walkers had to pass rubble and pieces of stormtrooper uniforms drowned in pools of oil and blood. Even though it didn't rain, lowering of shields thrust Korriban into constant storm. Little children sucked their thumbs in fright of massive lightning bolts and the mothers cooed them into much needed sleep.

The cries and moans intensified as a man clad in dark, torn robes passed by. He sailed through the debris like a ship through the iceberg. His eyes surveyed the sky. He was looking for those ships which brought his doom. Two former imperial Star Destroyers were stationed above the planet, hovering so close to the atmosphere, they shielded the sun. It mattered not, for the lightning and pyres generated sufficient light. The Destroyers were painted in the orange and black - colors of Resistance, instead of typical gray.

"Go away. Leave me alone!" He swatted something invisible in the air. People just nodded, and minded their own business. Many talked to ghosts that day, and so did this man.

Kylo toppled, once he spotted the ships. He sprawled on the ground in all his height and hissed. Bloodied and bruised, he looked no different from other survivors. His young face still puzzled people who didn't see behind the mask. Little boy offered him a hand. Kylo's eyes regarded him with the intensity of a wild animal.

"I told you to leave me alone. You're not real, so go away!"

The boy withdrew and hid behind a woman's skirt. Ren clambered back up, crossing the rubble field.

"Is he one of them? Who is he…just another poor sod…he went mad." People were whispering, averting their eyes.

Ren squinted at an empty spot behind a metal barrel. His lips trembled. "That's it. Get lost. You don't belong here."

The streets started to empty, when people understood they were not safe as long as his gaze could reach them. The movement seemed to aggravate him more, so they shuffled quieter. The silence soothed him, he could hear his own thoughts. He kept walking and stumbling, cursing and threatening empty air.

Then, one of the Star Destroyers revved up its engines. People looked at him, not the ship. Kylo went berserk. He was limping, dragging one foot slightly, but he was rushing towards the ship as fast as he could.

"Stop it." Rey whispered to him. "Don't do that…If you have someone to blame, blame yourself."

Ren's head snapped to his right. Rey's silhouette spoke to him. He saw her through a mist, shimmering like a mirage against sharp sunlight.

"I told you to leave me alone. You're not real." He brushed her off and she disappeared.

Why couldn't he feel her presence through the Force? What good was that ubiquitous, binding energy when it couldn't bind him to her? It would mean one thing… but he wouldn't insult her by thinking it.

She didn't fall to die there.

She loved life; she cared too much about too many. But what other alternative was there? He should have felt her… he always felt her, so deeply that his mind compensated and created that phantom that wasn't real. His Rey wouldn't gently whisper to blame himself. His Rey would kick his ass and fight till her last dying breath. Not a single atom, not a single thought of her being reached him now, only emptiness. That emptiness corroded his insides and rid him of any sound judgment.

The crowds forgot about that strange man, once someone pointed at the sky and shouted."Look, the ship – it's going down!" Bending of metal and the sound of pressurized steam shook the earth.

Screams blocked but a fraction of that noise. Some were running, trying to hide and outrun the inevitable. Others stood, chained to the spot and staring fascinated at the sky. No one believed the ship would crash – surely, the Resistance was just testing the engines.

Star Destroyer was leaning right, then it careened to the left – then back again. Invisible force was rocking the colossus of steel in the air like a child's swing. It was falling lower and lower until its dagger-shaped tip cut through the buildings and mountain alike. Sand started raining on them, as the destroyer buried its prow in the ground; plowing through.

Nothing withstood that mass.

It sliced through metal and flesh; it was going down in the whirlpool of sand and blood. Sand choked little children first; it filled their small noses and lungs. Mothers then welcomed their death, pressing the babes to their breasts. Whoever could, just grabbed their loved ones and crouched, as if the ground could protect them. It didn't. Nothing compared to the horror of that metal beast. Nobody outran it; nobody could hide or plead for their lives.

Then, the ship lost the momentum and slowly crashed in full, like a gliding paper plane. When the dust settled, those few lucky ones emerged with the look of horror on their faces. They witnessed the Force which brought it down. It was cloth in the body of that young man in black. He was looming over the mass graveyard like a primal deity.

He was heaving up and down, spitting blood. His arm were still high in the air, his hair lay in wet strands around his focused face. He was standing there, unbent, unbroken. He brought down the pride of the Resistance; and he took more lives with it than the entire battle of Korriban.

In losing her, he lost his own will to live. Nothing mattered, now. He expected a blaster shot ending his agony. He looked around. No one approached him, let alone shot him.

"Come on! Fight back, you cowards." He shouted in vain. "Fight for your lives, your vermin… you scum!"

He was spinning in circles." She fought, she could. It's all for you. She would have you all safe, all rescued. Nobody is leaving this fucking planet, now. I'll kill you all for what you've done."

By the end of his rant, he was talking to the empty air. Everyone fled and Kylo Ren knelt down to the ground covered with the stacks of corpses. The stone blocks were cracking into pieces; the blood inside the corpses was boiling as his grief wounded the Force. He refused to wipe blood and sweat from his face. In doing so, he would have to skim the scar. That too, was a memento of her.

The beast was now sobbing. The Force blew breath into the god of death; and his hunger for vengeance knew no bounds.


Flooding pain washed away the shores of Rey's consciousness. She felt it even before she woke up from that strange limbo. Neither here, nor there, she willed herself to feel it. Pain woke her up. Pain brought her back.

She opened her eyes and immediately shut them again. The glare from neon tubes blinded her. Her eyelids fluttered and she pried them open once more. She was lying on a white, sterile table. Her right arm was hooked to an IV drip, and some people were fussing around her. 2-B medical droids beeped a few times, and shut down. The chamber shook to its foundation. Glass flasks hobbled to the floor and broke; the window display of medicine cabinet shattered.

Those people suddenly became unconcerned about Rey, their faces mirrored dread. One by one, they left the room. Rey widened her eyes. Did they forget her? Was it an earthquake? It wouldn't surprise her if the planet finally collapsed on itself, pulled into the black hole from whence it came.

Rey sat up, unhooked the plastic drip and wobbled to the door. She didn't trust those strangers, especially when she wasn't conscious to see what they were doing with her. She was always very shy and detested touch of others. All but one…

Someone dressed her in a white flowing gown, which hindered her already shaky steps. They gave her some medicine to tame the pain; only to dim all her senses. She benefited from that opaque cloud, though. The image of Ren no longer made her feel like dying. Instead, she felt indifferent, content to be away from him, even.

She was in absolute shock of past few hours; still processing what had happened. In times like these, Rey's first response was to compartmentalize. Pain and sorrow wouldn't help her survive, to heal; so she crossed them off her list for future. She could always die of broken soul later; when her body healed to feel it.

She was walking in a bright corridor, all of a sudden dived in darkness. The lights flickered as the earthquake defused electrical grid; and Rey groped the sides of the wall. She got to a large room with beds and sheets, housing many wounded from the battle. There were echoes of their cries, and then, the light came back again. Earth stopped vibrating and Rey drew her first real breath since she came back.

"Destroyer… it was a star destroyer," she caught snippets of worried mutters. "Didn't you hear? A Resistance fleet crashed down."

"No, no. It was the Order – they shot down the ships. They're retaliating. We're gonna die anyway." Old man with a wooden staff lamented in the corner.

"Don't be stupid." Young, dark skinned man frowned. "It couldn't be a Star Destroyer. Those have ion propellers large like our entire garrison. They fly away even with the cut out power source and self-detonate in the atmosphere before they would ever crash. No force could bring down a destroyer."

"How do you know?" old man pointed his staff at the man.

"I happened to be an engineer before they blew up my town and took me here." The man said. "We're no longer slaves, so we should stop acting like ones." The old man shrank under weight of those words.

Rey was standing quietly, observing the situation.

"Is Ren safe," was the first thought that crossed her mind. Angry at herself, she strolled around the small aisles between the beds. He was no longer her concern. Maybe he died on that precipice. Maybe he ran away, like the cowards of the Order do. She had to find Finn and Poe. She should have already felt Luke Skywalker's presence. And where was Tanakh, the non-Jedi with Jedi skills who helped her?

The flow of questions stopped when Rey passed a figure shrouded in dark blue robe. She turned slowly on her heel.

"Another refugee, just another survivor," she blinked away the doubts. She met this person before. She felt his energy; he emitted panic. If she didn't see his chest rise and fall under that shroud, she would have sworn it was a droid. Well, maybe the medicine hazed her mind for good. But that energy, that posture…Rey spun the man and peeked under the hood.

"It's you," she said when a head full of ginger hair trembled under it. She was wise not to scream, or attack him right away.

"Quiet… don't…don't betray my cover." Hux begged. Even as a supplicant at her mercy, he still carried that air of superiority.

Rey grabbed his arm. "Why wouldn't I? You wanted to sneak out of Korriban unnoticed, huh? What, you thought you'd escape with the slaves? How could you even…"

He cut her off. "Pssst, please. Yes, yes, I admit. In the heat of the battle, I lost Phasma and my personal squadron got gunned down before they could escort me to my shuttle. They would have killed me on the spot if they caught me."

"You didn't really think this would work, did you?"

"Worth a shot," he grimaced.

Few patients tried eavesdropping on their conversation. In the ward where nothing happened all day, secrets entertained.

"I showed you your parents…"he tried different tactics. "I helped you, I didn't hurt you when I could have. Just let me pass…don't hand me over yet. At least give me a chance to run."

Rey leaned closer to his weasel face. "I might consider something, but first, you talk. Did your Order lose?"

Hux opened his mouth, ready to scold her for such offence. How could she even associate the abominable L-word with the First Order? Rey buried her fists in his fabric before he had the chance. "If you beat around the bush, I will stick this somewhere and then alarm the whole Resistance." She yanked the needle from her vein and shoved it into his face. Hux's nostrils doubled in size. He nodded.

"Let's try again. I want straight answers. Did the First Order lose to the Resistance?"

"Yes."

"Where are your ships?"

"Rebels shot down two of our best destroyers," he said with glazed stare," the third one is on lock down near the asteroid belt."

Rey's heart skipped a beat. "What of the Order now?"

"I told you before. It's not just me. The leaders haven't lost anything. They'll most likely regroup and try again. With or without me," he gulped.

"What about Snoke?"

This was the first time his composed façade dropped. "Snoke is dead."

Rey gripped his robes harder. No – that couldn't be. "Don't lie to me, you cockroach. Tell the truth or I'll probe you. And I don't mean your mind," she rattled another medical instrument in her free hand.

"I'm telling the truth," Hux spat. "He's dead. Ren killed him on Rakata; burnt him with that lightning thing. I saw his body myself. My stormtroopers carried him out and we buried him with all the pomp. Do your mind magic if you don't believe me."

The pain overcame Rey again. Her face flushed and caught fire; her mind was racing in circles. "Then he fooled you. You're wrong. Kylo Ren talked to him; he saw him." She let it slip unwittingly.

"Kylo Ren is obviously mad, then."

Hux suspected something was wrong, when the Knight of Ren kept referring to their late Master as if he still lived. He kept referencing him, he kept asking about orders from him, while all he really talked about was a dead man. Hux thought it was the effect of his injuries, but then, he changed his mind. Ren got mad. "I knew he was in contact with you! I knew it!" Hux hissed as he confirmed his suspicions. He never trusted that boy, so desperate to win over Snoke's attention. "What did you do to him? Kylo Ren," Hux repeated. "Did you kill him?"

Oh, how she wished she did. "What, worried about another man who'd see you dead? For all the talk about the Order, there sure are a lot of people in it who want to kill you, Hux. Are you sure you're on the right side?"

Hux's blue eyes twitched. He scowled at her neck, imagining how it would feel to strangle her.

"One last thing," Rey sighed when she sensed his anger. She didn't need to provoke it. "I want you to write the code sequence I can use to tap into your main computer on that locked Destroyer. "

"Why?"

"Because I said so. Write." She thrust a stylus into his hand and upturned her forearm. Hux's look was priceless. "What, on your skin?"

Rey closed her eyes and wanted to count to ten. She got to three, because he was too much of an idiot to deal with. No wonder the state of the First Order resembled Unkar Plutt's market fair.

"Yes, on my skin. Come on – and don't try to trick me. The exact sequence."

Rey's stomach turned upside down, when Hux fumbled into her ear as he drew her closer. The pen was tickling her skin, but he deliberately pressed the tip, so it scratched. Rey bit her lip not to laugh. He would have his little vendetta, even if it was the last thing he'd do. The ink covered the whole length of her forearm, when he rolled her sleeve and continued on her shoulder.

"Done." He said as he finished marking her. He twirled the stylus in his fingers, his eyes shifting.

"Give me that, before you fry your brain working overtime." Rey snatched the pen and rolled down her sleeve.

"So?" Hux cocked his head. "We have a deal?"

"Sure, yes. We have a deal." Rey stood up and walked away. Not three steps further, she spun on her heel, stretched her hand and Force slammed Hux into the nearest wall.

It hut her more than him, to strain herself like that, but it was worthy. She kept him locked in the air, until the commotion attracted attention of the former slaves. Hux's hood fell. He was gritting his teeth in pain and shame.

"Look, it's the one who put those collars on your neck. I'm sure you have some things you want to say to him." Rey shrugged and left the room. The silence of the oppressed didn't last long. She heard a shockwave of cries and cheers, powerful enough to compete with the magnitude of that earthquake.

Outside, she cried in pain.

"No, no." She must have cut herself and blood was falling down on the snowy ground. But there was no snow on the red planet; only sand… her head was spinning. She felt tired, and so unsure of where she was. Few red stains seeped through her white gown, near her lower abdomen – that was her snow. When she slammed him, her stitches opened. She didn't bother thinking why she needed them in the first place. Crawling back to the empty infirmary took forever, but when she got there, she drew the covers up and fell into deep sleep.


A/N First few hours after, Rey is in shock and denial. Ren becomes a beast right away. *sigh*