Rey found that going out at night was far more pleasant than the day. There weren't half as many Storm Troopers skulking in the hallways, and even less bothersome commanders that asked all the wrong questions and never left her alone.

But even when someone did dare disturb Rey on her nightly explorations, all it took was brief eye contact and the flick of a finger to twist their minds to her pleasing.

The mind trick, as it was called, was quite a useful skill, and Rey had no qualms in using it when needed— or when she felt like it.

The commanders, the stormtroopers, the whole fucking First Order- they were all helpless to stop Rey. Because she was powerful. And they were weak.

Rey could do anything she wanted with people; grope inside their little heads and twist their thoughts as she saw fit.

She could even make people kill themselves, if she felt inclined to.

She could make them dance.

One night, a Storm Trooper had the misfortune of running into Rey on her nightly explorations.

He stood before her, glaring at her through his plastic white helmet. The scavenger returned his gaze with a controlled, unafraid gaze. What was to be scared of? Storm Troopers were no threats to her.

They thought they were so strong with their armed suits and guns, but Rey knew better. She'd teach them what danger really was. She's teach them fear.

The scavenger tilted her head and focused on the man standing before her. A smile burned on her lips.

"What are you doing here?" the Trooper questioned in a harsh, metallic voice .

Rey quirked an eyebrow, focusing all her energy on the Force. "Nothing," she replied. "And neither are you."

"What—" the guard began, but it was too late.

"You're not here," Rey hummed.

There was a slight hesitation, and then, like a fly trapped in a spider's web, the Storm Trooper fell victim to Rey's entrapment, too weak-minded to resist.

"I'm… not here," the Storm Trooper dully repeated.

"You're going back to your room."

"… Back to my room…" The Storm Trooper droned, fully and completely under Rey's "spell" at this point.

The guard sloppily saluted Rey one last time before turning to walk away. Rey listened as the steps faded away, a smirk of triumph on her face that quickly faded into a pained grimace.

She continued her walk through the darkness, hating the way she took such sickly pleasure in distorting other people's thoughts.

But she was a monster now, so what did it matter?

Rey continued her exploration of the vast military base every night. Drifting through the seemingly endless black corridors; entering rooms that were supposed to be off-limits but she didn't give a fuck.

Getting lost and finding herself again. Or just getting lost.

If Rey was discovered they would probably kill her, or worse.

That only made it all the more exciting in her opinion.

Rey's favorite visiting-place was the rooftops.

She wasn't sure what influenced her to seek out the place, but she always seemed to find herself returning to the dark canopy anyways, like metal being pulled helplessly to a magnet.

The first thing she did was clean up all the blood left behind by her and Kylo's epochal battle. The blood was flaky and dry, so removing it took great effort and a lot of scrubbing, but in the end she managed it with grim satisfaction.

She returned every day. Sometimes she only stayed a few minutes, other times she stayed for hours on end, up until the sun rose and announced the beginning of another sleep-deprived day for Rey.

Usually the weather was cold and the sky cloudy. But sometimes the night would clear and showcase stars and planets— almost the whole galaxy, all laid out in front of Rey like a canvas.

On nights like that, she was almost happy.

Rey was sitting on the rooftops, as she did every night. But tonight was different— Rey was bored. She was restless, and didn't know why.

She wondered if Ben was awake. She tried calling out to him.

Kylo Ren, she whispered, focusing all her energy on their force connection. And then she waited, waited for his answer.

A few minutes later, Kylo replied. Rey.

Rey smiled, despite how dark everything felt around her. No reason, she lied effortlessly. Just felt like it.

Ben scoffed lightly, but didn't press the issue. Where are you? he asked.

Come find me, Rey coaxed, refusing to give him a location because it was simply unnecessary. Rey knew Kylo Ren could feel her, just like she felt him. And if he could feel, he could find.

I'm waiting, Rey whispered, closing her eyes and focusing on Kylo's steady breathing inside her head.

He came.

Kylo Ren and Rey sat side-by-side on the rooftops, not particularly doing anything, just enjoying the dissonant harmony between them.

They didn't speak, didn't touch. They were just… there.

It was pleasant.

Rey almost felt free. Kylo felt less dead inside than usual.

A few hours later, Rey and Kylo were interrupted by two guards, a pair of Storm Troopers on duty.

"Hey," one of them said. "This place is restricted. You're not supposed to be here."

Kylo stood up to speak but Rey held out a hand in halt.

"Wait," she said. "I'll handle this."

Ben was curious to see what Rey had planned, so he complied and sat down again. Rey turned to the Storm Troopers, tilted her head, and stared right through them with her piercing gaze.

"Hello," she said.

No answer.

"Are you friends?" she asked, pointing at the pair of Storm Troopers standing before her. She swung her leg casually over her knee, but Kylo knew better than to see it as anything else but a guise. There was blood in Rey's eyes, perfectly reflecting his own.

"You must leave immediately, or we'll have to notify the commander," the first guard said, pointing his blaster at Rey.

"We are their commanders," Kylo whispered to Rey. "Just tell them who we are and get them out of here."

"No!" Rey hissed at him. "Let's me have some fun first."

Kylo sighed and looked into her pleading, hungry face. He rolled his eyes. "All right…"

Rey smiled and pointed a finger to one of the Storm Troopers.

"Take off your helmet," she commanded, breaking into the guard's mind with her voice, easily. The man numbly raised a hand and unlocked his armor. The other Storm Trooper seemed petrified as well, no doubt under Rey's control.

The helmet fell to the ground and revealed a blank, void face. Ben watched as Rey got up and approached the man, her lips pulled upwards but not quite smiling. He marveled at her skill and how much she'd grown, but something seemed… off.

Rey touched the guard's cold cheek, lightly, and closed her eyes. Was that a tear rolling down her face?

"Shoot yourself."

Too late did Kylo realize what Rey's idea of "fun" was. The Trooper hesitated for a moment, then slowly raised his weapon and pressed it to his head.

"... No," Kylo breathed, but it was too late.

There was a defeating bang and a shot was fired, then a thud as the body fell to the ground, dead.

Blood and bits of brain splattered across Rey's unmoving face. She stared emptily at the corpse, as if contemplating whether to be disgusted or grievous.

She chose ice.

Before Kylo had time to react (did he even want to?), Rey had turned, opened her mouth, and ensnared the other Storm Trooper in her mind's web.

Her instructions to him were simple, easy to carry out. Cruel.

"Jump."

"Why did you do that?" Kylo had asked her, after both the guards were dead, gone, killed, and their bodies inconspicuously disposed of.

Rey had looked at him a little strangely, as if the answer was pathetically obvious.

"Preparation," she stated. "I want to be ready."

"… For the battle?"

"For the battle."

Kylo looked at Rey, in that way that made her so uncomfortable, because it felt like he was seeing right through her, to her very core. Maybe he was.

"How many?" Ben asked. He didn't need to tell her what he meant. Rey was a killer now and he wanted to know just how many lives she had ended.

"I've lost count."

Kylo smiled bitterly, despite the blatant seriousness of the situation."That many, huh?" he joked, but it came off as an accusation more than anything else.

"Shut up," she snapped.

Silence followed Rey's threat. The ominous, forced type. Kylo found himself staring out into the darkness, unable to meet Rey's blood-soaked eyes.

"You've changed," he stated, his words piercing through the silence.

"Have I?" she answered, feigning innocence.

Kylo nodded. "You have. Quite a bit, actually."

"How so?" Rey draped her legs over Kylo's; probably out of boredom, or to distract him. He pretended not to notice.

"You kill people now," he whispered, slithering a hand to her neck and stroking her jawline with his finger, gently. Rey's cheeks reddened slightly, but Kylo couldn't tell if it was from bashfulness or blood.

"I'm a Sith now, aren't I?" Rey answered shakily, closing her eyes and sinking into Kylo's hand. "I do what I have to do."

Kylo Ren lightened his hold on her neck, sliding it down to her collarbone, as if to really make sure if she was breathing.

"But why?"

Rey didn't look at Ben when she answered, her gaze set on the faraway stars.

"Because," she mused with the faintest of smiles, "Sith is just another word for murderer, isn't it?"

The sun was on the verge of rising and Rey and Kylo were still on the rooftops, enjoying and loathing each other's company at the same time.

They had started out sitting almost two feet apart but as the night came to an end so did the distance between them, resulting in their limbs becoming comfortably entangled.

Rey leaned her head against Kylo's shoulder, tired, but not tired enough to fall asleep.

Kylo traced his fingers over Rey's face, thoughtfully running his thumb over her tanned and blood-tainted skin. A question kept on echoing inside his head, and had been for the past few hours.

Why had Rey killed those Storm Troopers? What had sparked that change in her?

… Was it his fault?

"I don't understand…" Kylo whispered after many moments of darkening silence. "This isn't like you… You don't actually enjoy the killing."

Rey raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?" she asked, but she knew well enough what he meant.

Instead of answering, Kylo raised a gloved hand to Rey's head and used the Force to feel what was inside.

Caught off-guard, Rey didn't have time to react in time. She had always hated Kylo Ren's gloves. And she especially hated it when Kylo snooped around inside her head, unclothing her deepest secrets so fucking effortlessly.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Rey hissed, trying to pull away but to no avail. "Stop it!"

"Wait…" Ben mused, concentrating on the abyssal storm that was Rey's mind.

"Get out of my head, Kylo. Now."

"You're…" he stuttered, closing his eyes in concentration. "… You're afraid. Of losing yourself."

"Stop it."

"You're trying to close your heart from pain," Kylo's breath hitched.. "But it's becoming hard, isn't it? Because you feel so much of it."

"Like you can talk! You've been hiding your emotions it for years!"

"Yes. I have," Kylo answered darkly, finally removing his hand from Rey's face. "And see what I've become"

Rey's voice diminished to a hushed tone. "… A monster."

"Yes."

He smiled softly, running his finger along his scar. "I used to be so angry, and emotional— like you."

Rey couldn't bring herself to glare.

"But now," Kylo choked, "I feel nothing, nothing at all."

Kylo bent his head and continued, in that achingly soft voice of his.

"… I feel dead."

"I'm afraid. Afraid of what you're turning into, Rey," Kylo Ren confessed as morning dawned. It wasn't the best conversation opener but it'd have to do.

"Oh? And what is that?" Rey asked. Her voice was nonchalant, but Kylo knew that was just a guise, yet another lie.

Ben looked distantly out the window. "You're becoming more like me-"

"— A monster," Rey interrupted.

"Yes. That's it."

Silence followed Kylo's words. It wasn't until much, much later that Rey ventured to break it. Morning had broken and it was time to depart the rooftop .

Rey turned to Kylo before leaving.

"You turned me into this, you know," she whispered, almost inaudibly.

"I know," he breathed.

Ben opened his mouth to say more, but Rey had already began to walk away, escaping him.

Kylo Ren remained standing a long time after that, not finding it in him to move.

"I'm sorry," Ben whispered into the shadows where Rey stood, not yet having departed. "I shouldn't have asked you to join me, Rey. I'm a selfish man."

"Yes," Rey said from where she stood, a distance away. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself and turned to face Ben once more. She looked at him with a peculiar expression, a twisted smile.

"… But monsters are supposed to be selfish, aren't they?" she said, her voice dripping in irony and dark humor.

Kylo Ren nodded in agreement, pretending that her words didn't sting him. Silence had always been much easier than words, anyways.

After a moment of standing in complete quiet, Rey unclasped her arms, said something that vaguely sounded like "goodbye" and left as abruptly as she had arrived.

Ben listened to her steps as they echoed on the cold stone floor until they faded away to silence. It sounded like a heart bleeding out, stabbed into silence.