It's late afternoon, but it might as well be minutes from nightfall. The canopy overhead has grown so incredibly dense, that sunlight doesn't seem to be reaching the ground at all. It plunges the temperature lower than average, a deep chill that makes her shiver endlessly. Jeyna's eyes have adjusted enough to stop tripping every other step, but she doesn't like the change in conditions.
They've reached the area the Wookies refer to as the Shadowlands, for obvious reason. Everything is cast in shadows down here, and a fog seems to hover permanently in the lower pockets of land. Luckily, according to the pilfered map, they aren't far from one of the elevators the Wookies used to descend into the region. Hopefully it's still in working order, so they won't have to hike to the next one.
Jeyna's been keeping a lot closer to Ren, trying to ignore the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. So when he stops, raising his left fist into the air, she notices immediately and freezes.
"Something is stalking us," he says lowly.
She had already noticed it too, somehow. The feeling of eyes on her. Something watching. Goosebumps erupt on her already cold skin, as her eyes dart around her surroundings. But she can't make out anything but shadows and plant life, fog and earth.
Kylo Ren's right arm extends, and Jeyna flinches as his lightsaber ignites. It hisses and flares, an unstable red beam. Jeyna's read about the uses of kyber crystals, and suspects she knows what's happened to Ren's. In boosting the crystal's power output to maximum levels, he's fractured it. The broken thing is barely containing itself.
She recalls reading that the lightsaber reflected the wielder, and as she stares at Ren and his saber, both crackling the air around her with energy…she believes it.
Even the mask can't disguise the animalistic growl that leaves him suddenly. She feels her feet sliding across the dirt, pushed by an unseen force. As Ren turns, she finds herself behind him, the lightsaber spitting close in front of her.
She searches the shadows ahead, and swears she sees something move against the leaves of an oversized fern. But as soon as her eyes focus there, she sees nothing. Another flicker, there and gone, near a sapling. Her eyes are dancing, trying to pick up on something they can't discern. The sensation of eyes on her grows stronger, her fight or flight response leaning heavily towards flight. Adrenaline floods her system as her muscles twitch, longing to flee.
Suddenly, it appears from crackling air, as it is already lunging at them. It's massive, nearly twice Ren's height.
Jeyna is thrown by that same invisible force sideways, as Ren lunges back out of the way of its stampede. He brings his lightsaber down on it as it passes, but the beam glances off the armored spikes covering its entire back.
It slams an enormous clawed hand deep into the dirt, dragging itself to a stop. Horns protrude above small red eyes that are literally glowing in the dark, casting a demonic light to it. Wicked, hooked mandibles jut out from around its mouth. As it slams its fists into the ground, bellowing a snarl, Jeyna realizes what it is.
"Terentatek!" she shrieks, hoping Ren understands everything that one word represents.
It is immune to direct force attacks, and its favored prey are those that use the force. Historical records suggest it was bred for this one purpose. To hunt and devour force sensitives.
It lunges at Ren at the same time he brings his lightsaber towards it, slashing and dodging blows from its deadly claws. Its armoring is too effective for him to cause real damage, however, and he can't seem to reach any vulnerable spots. He's too busy blocking and evading to be able to hit it somewhere effective.
The monster has him cornered, and she watches helplessly as his lightsaber deflects one blow, and he attempts to use the force to stop the other fist sailing at him. It connects despite his attempt, and he is sent flying into a trunk. The sound of the impact is so forceful she gasps.
Jeyna scrambles to pull the blaster from her bag, making sure it's switched on. She knows it won't be very effective. A cowardly part of her doesn't want to do what she's about to do. But she has to draw the thing off Ren, if only to give him a moment to recover. It's already advancing on him where he lays, and she attempts to aim at its body. She knows she isn't going to be a good shot, and simply wants to catch its attention.
She fires. The blaster bolts hardly singe it, but they do seem to irritate it. It turns, snarling, to dig its claws into the ground once more. Then, it lunges itself at her. She screams, scrambling backward across the dirt.
"REN!" His name leaves her throat in terror, as she aims the blaster at its face.
One shot hits, surprisingly lucky, in one of its terrible glowing red eyes. The thing flinches, hurling itself sideways in pain. One of its monstrous clawed hands digs at its face, as if it could tear out the thing that has damaged it.
Before Jeyna can think, it's on her already, snarling ferally. It swipes at her even as she shoves herself backwards, and she throws an arm up to try to protect her face. She feels the flesh rip open where one claw catches her arm. She screams again, as she tries to burrow between the roots of one of the trees, desperate to escape from it.
The earth underneath her gives a shudder, and she catches sight of one of the massive boulders nearby suddenly go airborne. It crashes into the beast, throwing it far away from her. She can see Ren is on his feet now, and can barely hear the deep scream of rage from his helmet over the ripping noise of roots tearing themselves free from dirt.
One of the trees nearby is uprooted, dirt thrown into the air as the heavy trunk slams down onto the creature, pinning it. The impact shakes the earth beneath them, tremoring powerfully as it comes to rest.
The demonic monster flails, its torso crushed into the hard ground by the weight of the wroshyr tree. Ren climbs onto the trunk, and his saber ignites. Jeyna watches as he drives it into the thing's head, entering the base of the skull and emerging below its eyes and above the row of terrible teeth in its mouth.
It stops moving.
She feels numb as she lets her head fall back onto whatever is in back of her. She can't tell if its rock or root. She's panting hard, out of terror as she can't yet feel the pain in her arm. Adrenaline sizzles uselessly in her veins.
Ren is in front of her, ripping through his pack. "We need to get you off the forest floor," he orders.
Jeyna climbs to her feet, pushing up with her uninjured arm. Ren grabs her, and she watches as he ties something around her wound. He takes her hand and pushes it, hard, against her arm.
"Apply pressure. The less blood they smell, the better," he commands. "Come on."
She starts walking only because his arm is pushing her forward. Her brain feels fuzzy, but she knows she hasn't lost enough blood for it to be causing this.
She wants to ask what he's talking about, what would be smelling her blood. But she can feel it. More eyes on her. Her skin crawls, but her body can't seem to produce anymore adrenaline to counteract the numbness in her thoughts. Her brain has been reduced to a useless mass inside her skull.
Ren's lightsaber is not ignited, but still held in his right hand. His left is pressing into the small of her back, urging her forward. She sees the structure they're heading to now, a primitive elevator. They're almost there.
Relief floods her at the sight of the thing, even as her knees start to wobble. She tries to force her legs to work, but they feel disconnected from her control.
Ren stops, hooking an arm underneath her legs and easing her up into his arms. She swallows, even that movement manages to feel clumsy, as her body settles against his chest. She lets her head fall against his shoulder, feeling the heat from his body warm her chilled skin.
Her brain gives a feeble attempt at functioning, suggesting an idea. Could the terentatek's claws be venomous? Is that what's happening to her?
"Yes. But you're going to be alright," Ren tells her as her eyes slide shut.
She wishes she could hear his real voice tell her that. Everything goes dark.
Not Long After
When Jeyna wakes up, she's in an unfamiliar space. It looks like the inside of a cottage or cabin, and its clearly late enough for night to be setting soon. The bed she's on is massive, made out of huge slabs of wood. There's an odd looking lantern burning on a low table, casting enough light for her to take in the room and realize she's alone.
She pushes the blanket down to survey her arm. There's a bacta patch over it, but it's not stained with blood. Curiously, she peels it up to take a peek.
The flesh is clean, and almost completely healed. There's no way bacta would act that fast. Can Ren do something like that, she wonders? Does the force allow for accelerated healing?
She doesn't recall reading anything about it, but perhaps it's possible. Still, it seems like something a Jedi would do. Not a dark force user, like Ren. She hasn't been able to read as much about Jedi's powers. A lot of their records have been lost to time, or intentionally destroyed.
She hesitantly sits up, her head throbbing. She searches the space around her for her pack, wanting water. Her bag's there, on a roughly made bench by the door. And sitting beside it, the fractured remains of Ren's helmet.
Her mouth falls open in shock. She walks on unsteady feet to the bench, dropping down to sit on it. Her movements still feel uncoordinated, but it's definitely improving. She picks up the helmet gingerly, as if afraid her touch could further break it. It's dented in, she realizes, probably from the impact with the tree. It looks like he's literally had to tear the thing in half to get it off his head.
Her eyes shoot towards the door, wondering where he is. If he's badly wounded, he shouldn't be out wandering around.
She sits it down, searching her pack but finding her canteen missing. She stands back up, wondering if she should look for him. They've clearly made it to the Wookie village, he's probably somewhere near.
The door opens as if on cue, revealing the blackness of night outside.
Ren enters, glancing quickly at her and back away again. "Here," he holds out her missing canteen, which he's apparently refilled. "You need to drink, it will help flush the toxin."
She doesn't take it immediately. She can't stop herself from staring, her mouth hanging partly open in shock.
His hair is shockingly dark, almost black. Half his face is covered in an ugly purple bruise, tracing from his jaw up over his cheekbone, and coloring in one eye socket. But that isn't what has her so stunned. He's young, probably around her age. And he's absolutely beautiful.
Ren sighs, sitting the canteen down on the bench when she still doesn't take it. "You're thinking loudly again," he accuses, his eyes catching hers.
They're honey brown, and Jeyna is stunned by the intensity of them. His eyes look like they are holding back a storm of emotion, and she feels captivated by the maelstrom.
"I'm sorry," she breathes. She drops her gaze, feeling the flush of embarrassment creep up her neck into her cheeks.
He steps back from her noticeably. "How are you feeling?"
"Better. How are you?" she asks, letting her eyes dart up to survey the damage to his face before flicking her gaze away again.
"I'll be fine." He steps away again, before leaning tiredly against the door. "That was a stupid thing you did."
The rush of indignation she feels fights away her embarrassment, as she looks back to assess his face. He coolly returns her gaze, eyes locking onto hers. His face, even with the helmet removed, is still mask-like. He doesn't show anything, anywhere, except for his eyes. And now they're challenging her, confrontational.
"I was trying to help you," she argues.
"You could have been killed. It was not a smart decision to draw its attention to you," he says. She struggles to hear what emotion is in his voice. It's turbulent sounding, and she can't decipher if it is anger or concern.
"And if I didn't, and it killed you, I'd be the dessert to your main course anyway," she retorts. Her pride is wounded slightly at his chiding.
"I could have handled it," Ren insists.
Jeyna fights the urge to snipe back at him. "Of course. You did handle it. Next time I won't intervene."
"Good," Ren spits out the word. He stalks over to the lantern, extinguishing it. The room is plunged into darkness. "Go to sleep."
Jeyna doesn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at his attitude in the dark. She shuffles herself back to the bed, settling down onto it. It's already grown cold from her absence, and the blanket does little to help warm her.
"Where are you sleeping?" she asks.
"The floor," he says, irritation plain in his voice. She grits her teeth together in anger, fighting back the shivers that threaten to make her teeth chatter instead. All she'd done was to try to help him, and herself, survive. And now she has to deal with his surly temper again. The man might be able to rip trees from the ground and hurl boulders, but he was childish.
"Can you stop thinking so loudly!?" He snarls from somewhere near the door, where he's apparently laid on the floor.
"STOP LISTENING!" She shrieks back angrily. Her teeth begin chattering despite her best attempts to fight it. Her feet and hands feel like ice in the chill of the cabin.
Jeyna hears a sigh, and then feels the bed depress next to her. Her eyes widen as she realizes he's laid beside her. Breath jerks out of her chest in surprise when his arm loops over her waist, pulling her to him. Her back is flush against his chest, his arm locking her in position there.
"What are you doing, Ren…" she wonders, her voice coming out meek.
"I can't sleep with you thinking. And you're not going to stop thinking if you're too cold to sleep." His voice is so close to her ear, it sends shivers down her spine. They linger, not unpleasantly, deep in her belly.
She licks her lips nervously, but she can't deny he's warm. Already the shivers are abating. His breath stirs her hair slightly, and makes her picture his lips. Lips that are so close to her neck…
Her face is downright hot with shame, knowing he could be hearing her thoughts. She desperately tries to stop the train of thought. She does her best to empty her brain, to welcome sleep into it. She's warm now, his body throwing off so much heat that she barely needs the blanket. She curls her legs back against his, a contented sigh leaving her before she can stop herself.
Sleep.
She does.
