I am sorry guys I took forever again! I swear this will not become a regular thing! But here is the chapter at last! Thank you all for being so patient with me! Also, I am trying to build my story playlist. Do you any of you have recommended songs? Not just for Kylo and Falynn but music that would be good for the Star Wars universe? Thank you guys so much again! You are the best! :)
Chapter Sixteen
Kylo waited for Henne outside of the farmhouse the speeder bike hovering and ready to set out for their search. The Supreme Leader was ready himself to smooth out the rough edges with his wife. Kylo had woken up and began to recite lines in his head on what he would say to her. How he would tell her that he didn't care if she was angry she still needed to stick by him. When he evaluated he realized that might still be too harsh. His hard words were what pushed her away in the first place. He decided he'd just tell her that the two of them should just work through it and would still like her to stay by him. That he hadn't meant to be so harsh, and he just needed a moment. Kylo was starting to learn that he had no clue when it came to communications when it came to his personal life. As the Supreme Leader he had no issues with his plans, strategizing, and communications with his officials, and troops. This relationship with Falynn was fairly new territory to him. Even with Rey, he didn't know what to do.
The morning felt like it was beginning to drag and Kylo felt like he had been leaning against the rough exterior to the farmhouse for hours now, with no sign of Henne or his wife. He had asked one of his officers to find Henne who was supposed to be at her given post, which was where Falynn should have been as well. The handmaiden had told Kylo that Falynn would be staying with her and Henne along with a group of Stormtroopers. He had stationed them at an old Rebel base that was close by. It should have been around thirty minutes possibly at the most. Feeling more impatient by the minute Kylo pushed himself off of the farmhouse and mounted himself onto the speeder bike.
He would either meet them halfway or see what was taking them so damn long.
Either way, he had waited long enough and was tired of standing still.
He wanted to keep everyone on schedule and if he needed to give them a reminder so be it.
Setting the speeder bike into gear Kylo sped off towards the old Rebel base unbothered as his black hair whipped around his face. He wanted to make sure that his face was uncovered when he and Falynn spoke, he needed to be open and clear with her. His helmet was now placed on the dresser by his bed, he would retrieve it once he had retrieved Falynn and spoke with her. It was something he would truly need to start practicing. Being unguarded. He wasn't sure if he was willing to completely open up to his wife, but he could at least keep his helmet off when he was around her. He knew that she hated it.
The speeder bike zipped its way easily over the fields cutting Kylo's time, where only in a matter of minutes he saw the gray slated roof of the Rebel base. Extending his power out Kylo instantly felt a wave of noise and chaos.
Something wasn't right.
The energy he felt, it wasn't just chaos...it was panic.
Did the Resistance somehow find them?
If they were already facing attack that would push Kylo back one step further away from his plans. Gritting his teeth Kylo accelerated on the speeder blasting his way to the entrance of the base. Several Stormtroopers were standing outside of the base with blasters in their hands as they paced around the entrance. Kylo had barely turned the speeder off before he was dismounting and running over to the troopers. They were silent, but he could practically smell the fear that was radiating off of them. Their feelings set his own nerves on edge of what could have possibly invoked this fear into his Stormtroopers. They had dealt with the Resistance before, nearly wiping out an entire fleet, what did they really have to be so afraid of? Had his mother possibly found a way to improve the Resistance and made them actually something fear worthy?
"What is going on here?" Kylo snapped at the three Stormtroopers.
The three soldiers flinched and slowly turned their attention over to Kylo.
Narrowing his eyes Kylo allowed his power to hum throughout the air as he asked again. "What...is...going...on...here? Why are you all standing around? Care to explain why you are not at your post?"
"We...we were told to stand outside," the Stormtrooper on the left stammered.
Folding his arms Kylo inquired irritably, "why would you need to be stationed outside?"
"To...to wait for our Empress," the middle Stormtrooper answered more quietly than the one on the left.
Kylo's arms dropped by his side his powers began rising as he stepped closer to the three men. "Why are we waiting for my wife? Is she not inside of the base?"
The Stormtroopers turned their heads to each other without saying another word.
"Who made this demand?" Kylo barked at their silence. "Who told you to wait for my wife?"
The third Stormtrooper who stood on the right spoke almost inaudibly softly. "Her handmaiden sir. She said she needed to find the Empress."
Kylo pushed passed the three Stormtroopers nearly knocking them down raising his hand prying open the metal doors with the force. Feeling the weight of his lightsaber hitting his side Kylo plummeted through the gray halls of the base stretching out his power where he could find Henne. What the hell was she doing? The woman had told him that Falynn was going to be with her. What exactly were the two of them trying to pull? What was Falynn thinking? If she didn't want to stay next to Kylo he understood but why would she be separated from Henne? Kylo felt his patience snap as he hastily rushed over to an older male officer. Grabbing them by their stiff uniformed collar Kylo leaned into their wide-eyed face.
"Where is Henne?" he seethed baring his teeth.
The man pointed a shaking finger towards the center of the communication center where Henne was standing in front of one of the large net screens. Pushing the officer forcefully away after letting go of him, Kylo stormed over to Henne. Digging his fingers into her shoulders Kylo roughly spun Henne around where she could face him and explain what the hell was going on. The color in Henne's face automatically drained as her eyes met with Kylo's.
Without even giving her a second to breathe Kylo spat. "Where...the...hell...is...my...wife?"
Henne with red-rimmed eyes only shook her head.
"Answer me!" Kylo roared fingers digging in deeper.
"I-," Henne swallowed her pink lips quivering. "I-I don't know where my lady is."
Rage splintered through Kylo's mind as he let go of Henne and replaced the gripping with a force chokehold. "Are you to tell me, that you the one who is sworn to protect my Empress is unaware of where she is! When was the last time you saw her? Why are there Stormtroopers outside waiting for her!? You told me last night that she would be with you!"
"She," Henne choked out tears now streaming down her face. "S-she told me that she was going to search on her own to seeā¦" Henne gasped as the color began to drain from her fair complexion. "To..see...if she...could...help."
What?
Had Falynn lost her mind? He knew that she was stubborn, but why the hell had she gone out on her own? When had she decided to do this?
"When?"
Henne's breath came out in a wheeze as she spoke. "Y-yesterday. She left...yesterday...we have been searching for her since last night...we can't find her."
Jerking his hand down Henne's body fell forward as she coughed and gasped, placing a hand on her throat. Bending down Kylo took a fistful of Henne's hair and jerked her head back. Henne's face was now red, blotched from the lack of oxygen and the tears that were staining her cheeks.
"If it weren't for the fact that you are my wife's double I would gladly draw every last breath out of you," Kylo stared down at her face so similar to Falynn's. The face that was keeping the rage down from Kylo's thoughts and powers. "Now tell me everything that conspired between you and my Empress."
Releasing his grip on her head, Kylo listened as Henne explained the small farmhouse that Falynn had decided to stay in. Henne disclosed that Falynn told her that she needed some rest, and was going to seek some information out herself. When she had gone to check on her mistress after she had spoken with Kylo she hadn't found Falynn anywhere. She had gone out and called for Falynn but there had been no response. When she had gone back to the Rebel base they hadn't seen their Empress either. She also had checked with one of the officers that were near Kylo's station, but they hadn't seen the Empress either. When Henne had gone back to Falynn's farmhouse she had realized that her travel bag was still missing. Henne had absolutely no idea where Falynn was and had spent her whole night searching for her. She also admitted that Falynn had asked her handmaiden not to reveal any of it to Kylo, and Henne chose to respect her lady's privacy.
His wife had been gone since yesterday afternoon and no one knew where she was.
Kylo's mind spun as he tried piecing together what he should do.
They needed to find the Resistance, that was his priority.
Even though he knew that he couldn't help but to fear where Falynn was.
Had she purposely run off? Had she really been that angry with him that she would just leave? Or what if the Resistance had found her, and they had her captive...or worse.
Kylo spun to the officer he had grabbed earlier. "Make contact with General Jase. Tell him to go ahead with the speeders in our first search. Tell him I will join in after I finish an assignment." Kylo glared back down at Henne who was still on the floor. "Be grateful that I know my wife's relationship and fondness towards you. Note that next time I will find a way for you to be replaced."
Emotions high with anger and stress Kylo felt every inch of him burning with ice and flame. Making his steps quick back to his speeder bike, Kylo tried to mentally map out where he would possibly locate Falynn.
Taking a shuddering breath as he mounted on his bike, Kylo became overwhelmed with regret. He was the one that had pushed her away last night. He was the one that had told her to leave him alone.
Falynn was somewhere wandering around onto Dantooine.
Whether she was by herself Kylo had no idea, but he did know that he needed a group of men to find a possibly large amount of people. He had no idea how he was supposed to one individual on a planet that he was not familiar with.
Switching on the bike's highest speed the Supreme Leader took off in search of his wife.
The Resistance could wait.
The planet had seemed a bit chilly but now that Falynn had been walking for hours, she shrugged off her gray cloak draped the fabric over her satchel. Her feet were sore and aching and blisters had formed at the back of her ankles, Falynn was beginning to believe that she would never find her way back to Kylo, Henne, or even an officer. She was at least fortunate enough to find some berries and a large nut tree that she picked at. A small clear stream had allowed her the blessing of refilling her canteen a few times before her throat was no longer parched. However, that was hours ago and she was now finding herself hungry and thirsty once again. Thankfully Kylo's rough training had built some stamina in her, giving Falynn the endurance to keep walking.
That being said, she was ready to take another small rest.
Falynn was ready to find another tree where she could shade herself under until a flat, slate surface roof came into view. Falynn paused in her steps and squinted her eyes. Realizing it wasn't just a trick of the imagination Falynn's eyebrows lifted as she smiled. It wasn't the farmhouse she had been staying in, but it was a shelter. Falynn willed her feet to quickly move as she began in the direction of the matte gray-colored building. Her thoughts went to hopes of laying down in a bed, burrowing herself in some covers, hoping for a few hours of actual good sleep, but those hopes were shut down almost immediately. Reaching closer Falynn was quick to notice the base had been far in advance been abandoned. The windows were cracked and broken and a bit of wall was cracked into the slate. Despite looking broken down the base was still shelter. Whether there was a bed in it or not it would guard her against the elements and possibly give her some information on what she was looking for.
Coming over to the front entrance of the building Falynn tried to pull on its metal doors gripping onto its rusty handles. She groaned to discover that the doors were still securely locked. She attempted to give the doors another pull, but to no avail. With a sigh, Falynn held out her hand and focused on the archway of the metal door frame. Baring her teeth down in concentration Falynn tried to send her power out, but realized that in exhaustion she had a hard time using the force. Groaning in displeasure Falynn went around the side and in disdain noted the broken windows. None of the windows would be climbable unless she wanted to gash herself up. Falynn noticed a large stone that laid on the dirt ground. Thank goodness Dantooine was an earthy domain.
The stone would have to do.
The glass shattered falling both inside and outside of the building.
Biting down on her bottom lip Falynn grabbed onto the window ledge and pushed herself up into the new large opening. Careful of her footing and once again grateful to Kylo's training that had polished her agility Falynn tiptoed over the pieces of glass before jumping onto the ledge of the window. Biting down on her bottom lip she was able to push herself up and pull herself through the now large opening. As she made her way through Falynn landed on the ground barely missing the glass that had fallen on the inside. Steadying herself on her feet Falynn coughed as she batted away at thick particles of dirt and dust. Taking a moment to examine the inside of the base Falynn let out a large groan. Other than where she stood the rest of the inside of the base looked completely blacked out. She would have to maneuver carefully through the hallways until she found some other source of light. Extending her hand Falynn began to feel for anything that appeared to be some type of switch or paneling. Her hand quickly collided with the cold surface of a titanium wall.
Blind in the darkness Falynn moved her way down what she assumed was a hallway sliding her fingers on the gritted surface walls. Extending out her powers the best she could Falynn tried feeling out any form of life force, but she didn't have the strength to even scan out the area. Coughing from breathing in too much-nonfiltered air Falynn desperately needed water. With every intake of breath and each step, Falynn's throat burned.
Stopping Falynn leaned her body against the dirt coated walls. Her stamina was beginning to fade out and she had to put in more of an effort as she navigated her way through the dark. She wouldn't be able to last much longer if she didn't find a way back to the farmhouse. Falynn banged a fist against the wall towards her own ignorance.
She had been too stubborn. Her pride and petty hurt had gotten her into this mess.
Falynn looked up as if she could summon some type of light or awareness in where she was. She was aware that she was in a Rebel base. There was some hope in that. Kylo had stationed his troops at another and larger Rebel base. Henne had informed her previously that Kylo had decided to set them there, for bunking purposes along with resources. If she was able to find a communication room, she could try calling into them and letting them know where she was. After she made contact with them, she could rest until they arrived. The idea wasn't perfect but it was better than her wandering aimlessly. With forced effort, Falynn pushed herself off the wall and continued to trudge her way down the hallway's darkness.
She wandered blinded, feeling her way around corners and stumbling over a who knew what. Tripping over her feet Falynn fell forward bracing both on the walls when her fingers came across a smoother surface. Heart racing with anticipation that she finally found something useful Falynn pressed her fingers onto what was revealed to be a small keypad. A choked sigh of relief sputtered out of her mouth as a metal door that had been to her right slowly opened with a rusty screech. The door had only opened slightly leaving a small space for Falynn. The touchpad must have been glitched for a long while causing it to un-sync with the door, but it had left enough space for her to wiggle through until she made her way into the room. Inside Falynn rapidly began to pat around the walls until she found the control pad. Pushing into it, the light above her head flickered and buzzed to life dimly lighting the room.
"Damn it," Falynn gritted her teeth as she walked over to the wall of broken screens.
She wasn't too familiar with military technology only recently being introduced to it, but she had hoped she could still find a use of the controls and screens that were in front of her. Looking at the controls beneath the screen Falynn began touching all of them. She slid, clicked, and pushed on switches, buttons, small levers, with only the screens to respond in a static sputter.
"DAMN IT!" Falynn swung down her fist on the controls.
She continued to beat down on the control board until her wrists were aching and bruising.
If this room was unresponsive she doubted the rest of the rooms were much different.
Another dead end.
She was failing miserably on Dantooine. A planet she thought would be so simple.
Tears began to sting in her tired eyes.
She felt so stupid and lost.
She should have stayed with him. She shouldn't have left his side. Even if she was angry with Kylo, what was her defiance really proving? She should have at least stuck by Henne's side. Another choked cry and Falynn banged on the controls one more time when she heard a scratching noise behind her. Falynn's heart lit for a moment, had someone miraculously found her? Falynn quickly spun around.
As she turned her blood suddenly ran cold.
Staring at her in the crack of the doorway, glowing, was a pair of large red eyes.
Falynn's blood rushed causing her ears to buzz, as she backed herself against the control dash. What was that thing?! She was unable to see the full form of the monster but did not care too as its sharp blade-like legs shoved themselves between the door and the wall. She highly doubted the beast was docile either, as its horned head swung and its pointed like mouth clicked hungrily. Breaths becoming shallow Falynn began to frantically scan the room for a sign of what she could use as a weapon, whether it was a wrench or a broken piece of plumbing. Nothing was visible in her vision, and dread filled her when she realized that she was trapped. If she had the strength she would have easily been able to use the force to blast the creature away possibly smashing it with the metal door, but she didn't have the strength for it. She would have to use her own body, and she was positive she didn't have the strength to do that either. Falynn ached for her double-sided lightsaber, or even a staff or spear she had used in her trainings with Kylo. Falynn's body tensed at the creature's sudden ear-piercing screech. The beast had managed to use its legs to push its body further through the small opening pushing its body halfway through. Falynn could only watch in horror as the creature continued to push its way further in not giving her much time to think.
The knowledge that the monster had possibly been in the base for a while told Falynn one thing and that was it was more likely hungry. Starving even, a feeling she could empathize with if its glazed red eyes weren't hungrily pinning her down where she stood. The creature was able to completely push its way through as it used another pair of razor-tipped legs. Standing the creature took the image of a large insect on four sharp hind legs its two front legs extending out revealing a red glossy stomach and a black scaled body. Opening its mouth strings of slime strung from its bottom mouth to its top as it screeched again. Falynn tried to steady her mind as she no longer had a choice but to face this creature. Jerking her arm back Falynn's elbow smashed into one of the screens behind her shattering the glass as it cut into her elbow. Reaching behind her Falynn grabbed onto a long shard of glass that she held up to the creature ignoring the sting as its sharp edges dug into her palm. The creature lowered its body on all six of its legs rapidly charged towards her. Falynn threw her body to the size dodging away from the attack as her body slammed into the wall.
Her now bleeding elbow hit the wall causing Falynn to let out a small cry before the creature charged at her once more. With a yell, Falynn extended her arm out with the shard of glass aiming it to do an uppercut into the creature's belly. Falynn's eyes widened to see that the glass didn't even make a scratch on the creature. Its skin was a tough exoskeleton. A mere glass shard wasn't going to do any damage, but the attack had stunned the beast enough for Falynn to quickly make her way towards the narrow opening. Marking her movements the beast chased after Falynn her body being halfway through the cracked opening. Extending a scythe-like leg the beast swung it down cutting into Falynn's shoulder. Crying out Falynn pushed herself the rest of the way through and began to run down the dark hallway. She could hear the insect-like monster scratching at the door again from behind her.
It didn't take long for it to figure out how to get itself through the door this time, and to quickly follow after her. Hearing its sharp feet scraping the concrete floors Falynn quickened her pace around a corner before she lost her balanced hitting her injured shoulder against the wall. She winced as pain shot down her arm. She wasn't even able to see how bad the wound was in the darkness, but she felt as blood ran down not from her shoulder but her elbow as well. Her hand wasn't doing much better either. Steadying her breath making sure that it was quiet in the darkness Falynn stood still and quiet hoping it wouldn't take too long for the creature to possibly lose interest in her. Goosebumps formed on Falynn's skin as she heard metal being scraped close to her. The horrible sound grew louder and Falynn realized that it wasn't coming from the direction that she had run from.
The noise was coming from the side of her.
Slowly turning her head Falynn realized that the source of the noise wasn't coming from the creature she had just run from...and that it wasn't the only thing she needed to be running from. Another pair of red eyes met with hers in the dark hallway leaving Falynn to take off again. Keeping one of her hands on the walls Falynn ran as fast as her feet would allow it, praying she could be fast enough to get away from now two monsters.
Time was running out for her physically, as she felt her breaths becoming more shallow. With the lack of food and water and loss of blood Falynn wouldn't make it much longer, before she was on the ground as free bug food. There had to be something in this damn base that could prove useful to her.
Falynn turned another corner before one of the creatures stuck one of its legs into her back. Screaming Falynn began to fall forward, before she regained her balance and kicked upward knocking the creature back, before stumbling further down.
A large opening revealed itself down the wall to an actually dim lighted room.
Without looking behind her, hearing that the two creatures were still close by Falynn nearly dove into the opening, before stumbling onto the ground landing on all fours. With two of them, the hissing was unnervingly loud and rattled through Falynn's tired bones. Crawling on the floor Falynn moved her behind a group of large steel crates.
Catching her breath Falynn leaned her head back on the side one of the crates. She silenced her breathing when she heard the clinking of sharp legs on the ground close to where she sat. Slowly moving back on all fours Falynn made her way to another crate moving behind it. She hissed at the pain her injured arm throbbing from the pressure she was putting on it. Falynn looked down on the ground beneath her and realized that she was leaving a trail of blood from the wounds she had. Blood dripped down her left arm from her shoulder and elbow, and she felt the warm dampness on her back from where they had cut into her. If she survived this, that would be more scars added onto her body.
If she survived.
If she didn't find some way to fight over those monsters she doubted her chances were high. Or that she would be alive much longer. Especially in the state that she was already in. Falynn examined the crates that flooded the room and hoped that some of them were storing weapons. It had been a Rebel base, this room had to be some sort of storage of shipments or backups.
Still, on all fours Falynn tried to take in the details of the crate sizes and any that were in similar size to the ones the Stormtroopers had been sorting their blasters in back on the Star Destroyer.
A loud crash came to her left.
Lifting her head Falynn's heart felt like it stopped beating for a split moment. The two creatures had begun scaling the walls, and to Falynn's horror, another was with them. Was there possibly a nest somewhere? Mind buzzing with urgency Falynn pushed off a heavy lid to one of the smaller crates with a grunt. Moving up on her knees she peered inside. The smell of wasted food assaulted her senses as the lid hit the floor. Falynn held back a cough from the nauseating scent where she wouldn't alert the three beasts that had now made their way to the ceiling. Sweat now heavily clinging to her skin clinging her dirty clothes to her body Falynn realized what they were doing. They were scanning the room for her, using the ceiling as a high vantage point. Crawling to another crate Falynn shoved the lid off peering inside. Trembling, she reached a shaking hand inside, tears rimming her eyes as she pulled out one of the small blasters that had been neatly packed with other blasters. She didn't even know if it would work, but it was the only thing she had going for her.
That or death.
Falynn prayed that she would have decent enough aim to hit the giant insects if she needed to shoot. She had little experience in blasters, most of her fighting was either with her own body or her lightsaber. Moving her body to where she was leaning back Falynn aimed the blaster up towards the ceiling. Pulling back the trigger the blaster shot off, but she had missed. The only thing that she did was grab the attention of the creatures to her location. She screamed as one of the creatures detached itself from the ceiling and landing loudly one of the metal crates than began to make its way towards her. Scrambling up on her feet, Falynn held the blaster out again and gave it another shot.
She missed it again.
Swearing with a pained cry Falynn shot one more time this time the blast piercing through the tough skin of the beast. Falynn watched as it hissed loudly before hitting the floor. She wasn't sure if it was dead, but she didn't want to stick around to find out. She had two more that she still needed to get away from. Pushing around the crates Falynn made her way back towards the dark hallways. If she was able to get out of the base she could possibly escape them. Who knew if they would follow, but at least she would be able to see in the light of day.
Who would have thought the base proved to be more dangerous than where she had been before. Not like it mattered even if she had kept herself outside she would have continued to be lost, hungry, and exhausted. Perhaps this was just fate and the way she was supposed to meet her end. Least she could say that she did her best to overcome it, whether it was the end for her or not.
Attempting to move over one of the smaller wooden crates Falynn let out an agonized wail as her body slammed into the crate breaking it. One of the giant insects had gotten a hold of her leg in its mouth throwing her down. The creature crawled over Falynn's body opening its mouth its saliva dripped onto Falynn's face. Gritting her teeth Falynn blasted the weapon again hitting the creature directly in its stomach. Mouth still open the beast fell heavily on top of Falynn. Falynn choked on a gag from the stench as she pushed off the beast.
Finishing her way out of the room she was able to make her way to the dark hall. Whimpering Falynn moved as quickly as she could with her now injured leg. She was really doing horrible at this. She was almost ashamed of it. She thought by this point she could handle something like this, but she knew better now. Knew how truly inexperienced she was in this vast galaxy. For that, she probably wasn't going to find her way back to that farmhouse. Not back to Henne. Not back to the troops. Not back to Kylo. Perhaps she deserved this.
Realizing that running was only delaying the inevitable at this point, Falynn's back hit one of the cool walls before she slid down. Hair now completely loose from its braid and sticking to her neck and face, Falynn let out short labored pants as she shakingly held up the blaster. She watched as the pair of red eyes came closer and closer into view. As she pulled the trigger she watched the blast go off, then everything went black.
