Chapter Eighteen: Potential
The shipyard had once been responsible for manufacturing destroyer-class vessels, building the first of their fleet, and Kylo began rethinking his planet selection as they made their way to its command bunker.
He'd been so much younger the last time he had traversed its interior, probably the same age as the girl shivering at his side. The absence of his mask and her restraints had done more than ease her misgivings; Rey matched his strides under her own power, no longer needing to be pulled along.
The yard's snow-dusted expanse was unblemished—no tracks or footprints broke the moonlit plane—and he sensed their solitude among its ice-crusted columns and blocky, uniform lines. They crunched a path forward, stopping in front of the bunker's unassuming entrance.
The Order had had much less pageantry before Armitage Hux, and as Kylo keyed in a master code, he ruminated on its other shifts.
He had been so ardent when first joining Snoke and giving in to the Dark's duplicitous pledges. The ruins of the Empire, rallying into a new faction, seemed a perfect stage to remake himself. Shedding Ben Solo and donning the mask of Kylo Ren had been horribly easy at first.
Kylo's thoughts darkened as he remembered Snoke's early teachings, a regiment of relentless torture that left his insides mangled and his throat raw from screams. The bunker's double doors slid open, and he could almost hear their echoes in its shadowed halls.
From his side, Rey peeked over. "I won't let you do that to me," she said softly. "Just so you know."
Of course she'd picked out his memories. Nosy, little junk-rat.
"I'm more humane than my master," he muttered, traipsing forward. "And you have far less promise than I did. There won't be the same impetus to elevate you to greatness."
Rey followed, rubbing her arms as the doors closed behind them. Kylo shifted his helmet to the crook of his elbow and tapped a nearby panel, switching on the emergency power with a rattling, reluctant whir. In its pale haze, he noticed her fingers were bright red, stinging and shaking from the harsh temperature.
"We will see what supplies are left, decide which emptied hangar will make a suitable training space, and then return to the ship," he said. "Follow me."
With lips he could see going blue, Rey nodded. "C-Can we maybe find a jacket as well?"
"I said humane, not soft."
"With my deficiencies, I'll probably need all my fingers," she countered. "If I lose them to the cold, think how bumbling I'll be."
Kylo felt his mouth twitch in the start of a smile at her wit, before he remembered the expression was no longer obscured. Quelling it quickly, he shot her a stern look. "You're a scavenger," he said. "Do what you do best."
A/N: Thanks to my Guest reviewers, Kenzie, and Scavengerrrrey for the support! Each of these updates is for you :)