Again lightening flashed across the sky.
"No," she whispered. "No, no, no." Her lips and tongue burned with the acid taste of the rain. "No, no, no…"
Kylo Ren ripped his lightsaber free, and the body of the raider fell to the ground with a wet thump. His mask glinted dully as he advanced upon her. Behind him, shadowy figures in heavy armor stood imposingly with weapons in hand. Even without the Force, she would have felt the threat that emanated from them.
The Knights of Ren… they were legendary, mythological almost. They weren't supposed to actually exist, but then neither was Master Luke.
Master Luke… it was the memory of his voice which rang in her ears as she lifted her eyes to the inhuman visage of the monster which haunted her dreams, and though his eyes were shielded, she felt certain in that moment that Kylo Ren knew where her thoughts had turned—that he knew and that it angered him.
"There was still good in my Father. If the Emperor had any weakness, it was this: that he never understood the nature of mankind… that he did not realize such a duality could exist. That a feeling like hope might exist beside obedience…"
Kylo Ren towered over her, his posture tense. In one hand his crossguard lightsaber blazed unevenly, his other gloved hand curled into a tight fist. Rey lifted her chin in defiance. She had come very close to ending his life on Starkiller Base. Surely, he would now repay her in kind. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her afraid. She would not even flinch.
He lifted the saber, and with one swift movement brought the hilt crashing down against her skull.
The storm had stopped, yet her skin still burned where it had been exposed to the rain. It was silent. Not in the way of a battlefield after the battle, but the sort of silence that came from traveling through the vast cold dark. Rey was afraid to open her eyes. She was afraid to move and thereby learn the extent of her restraint. Was he there now? Was he crouched before her waiting for her to open her eyes?
Tentatively, she moved her fingers. They brushed against cold metal and stopped.
"I know that you're awake."
It was his voice— emotionless and distorted through the helmet.
"Why?" Rey rasped, her throat dry and raw
"Why did I save your life? Because I can make use of you. Open your eyes, scavenger."
Rey did so, and found that she lay unbound on the floor of a dimly-lit cabin. The room held only three other things: a single berth, a chair, and seated upon that chair, a creature in a mask.
Rey swallowed hard, trying to moisten her throat enough to speak.
"Am I to be your guest again?" she whispered.
"No." His answer came fast, and though she waited for him to explain, he did not speak again.
Slowly, Rey raised herself up on her elbows and immediately groaned as her head throbbed—a response to the sudden movement. Her entire skull ached. She closed her eyes against the pain and forced herself to sit up. Impassive and unmoving, Kylo Ren continued to study her.
The room was a standard cabin, not a cell, yet she had awoken on the floor beside the bed which suggested she'd been tossed in with little regard for her comfort. She was not restrained, and yet she was watched. Though he did not say it, she was most certainly his prisoner. She swallowed again.
"You can't keep me here. I'll escape… just like last time."
"I doubt that."
"I'm stronger now, stronger than I was before—"
"I know."
His arrogance was apparent in the tone of his voice. He knew and he didn't care, and that realization raised gooseflesh down Rey's arms.
"What do you want from me?" she demanded.
He did not move or respond.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" she yelled, her voice breaking.
At last he moved, leaning forward in his chair as though to study her closer. In the silent room she could hear the creak of leather and the beating of her own heart.
"I want you to do as I say, scavenger. You will do as I command or you will die. Do you understand?" He asked, his modulated voice deceptively soothing.
From habit, Rey's hand went to her side. Her light saber was gone. Kylo Ren waited for her answer. Trapped, she had but one choice. Rey glanced away from him and gave one quick nod. The chair creaked again as leaned back.
"Your hands, neck and face were exposed to the rain on Ka'vec and your clothing is soiled with mud. If you don't clean it off, the acid will eventually burn through your flesh. Get up and rinse off."
Rey opened her mouth to protest that there was no water, but realized she had not seen the entire room from her position on the floor. She turned to see a doorway behind her which led to a compact washroom. A shower head extended from the center of its ceiling.
Slowly she got to her feet, and saw that he spoke the truth. The backs of her hands were red as though sunburned, and her mud-splattered armwraps were peppered in tiny burn holes.
She stepped into the wash compartment and reached for the door panel only to discover that there was none. A clean grey tunic hung from a hook where the panel should have been. There was no door separating the shower from the room at all.
Rey stepped back and shook her head.
"I can't," she whispered, her hands balling into fists. "Not in front of you."
"You will do as I command or you will die," he repeated.
So that was his plan, she realized, to humiliate her before he tortured or killed her. The very idea of stripping her clothes off and standing naked before such a monster made her sick with loathing. She hated him. Never, not even on Starkiller Base, had she ever wished she could kill someone as much as she did Kylo Ren at that moment.
The right moment would come eventually, and she would remember what he did to her. He would suffer for that, and for Han, and for Master Luke.
Beneath the mask, he scoffed gently.
"I see that your time with Skywalker has had very little effect on you. That is good."
Ignoring him, Rey entered the washroom and punched the command in to start the water. With a smirk, she stepped beneath the steaming spray fully clothed, and began to scrub at her face.
The water stung!
Rey gasped and almost stepped back, but immediately realized that it came from the effect of the water coming into contact with the dried residue on her face and hands. She grit her teeth and scrubbed harder, and soon a feeling of numbness overtook the burning pain. She turned her attention to her clothing next, scrubbing at the mud coating her pants and armwraps. The water which pooled around her toes before finding its way to the drain turned black from her efforts, but her clothing was beyond repair. The mud had stained and burned holes through every bit of the fabric it touched.
At last Rey gave up and stopped the water. Dripping wet, she turned to face Kylo Ren and found that he had not moved from his chair. She shivered in the chill air as she waited for what would come next.
He stood, rising slowly from his chair, and crossed the room in three deliberate steps. Rey fought the urge to cower. Standing, he seemed almost too large for the small space.
"Give me your arm," he drawled.
When she hesitated, he snatched her hand and yanked her arm straight. He snapped a metal bracelet around her wrist and dropped her arm. Rey stumbled backwards, eager to be away from him, and wrapped her fingers around the thin metal band.
"I wouldn't," he warned. "That's a Zygerrian Slave Band. If you attempt to take it off, you'll trigger it to release a poison into your skin. You'll die before you can take a single step."
"No," she whispered.
"Any attempt to dismantle it will result in your death. It's also set to trigger should you move more than 2 Trogan from my side."
Rey removed her fingers from the band. Her eyes large and wild, she stared first at it, and then looked up into the masked face of the monster, Kylo Ren.
"Ah. You understand now, don't you? You can't escape, scavenger."
Rey backed slowly away and stopped, afraid to test his words, yet equally afraid of her proximity to the towering creature in black. When he reached out a hand towards her, she stumbled back forgetting the limits set by her wrist band, but he caught her firmly by her shoulder and held her.
"Why are you doing this to me?" she hissed. "I won't tell you anything—"
"I know," he soothed.
Rey felt a drop of warmth run down her cheek as a single terrified tear escaped. With one glove hand, Kylo Ren reached out to gently cup the side of her face, even as she shrank back and turned her face to the side. He rubbed his thumb slowly across her cheek, wiping the tear away.
"Don't be afraid," he said, his voice tranquil and low, "You'll understand all of this very soon."
"I understand perfectly well right now. You're a monster."
His hand fell to his side, where it curled into a fist.
The door to the cabin slid open abruptly, and a figure in black, cowled cloak, his hood pulled down to veil his face, entered and bowed to Kylo Ren.
"What is it?" the monster demanded.
"We're landing soon, sir. The others are assembling." The hooded man bowed again before disappearing.
"Landing?" Rey repeated.
"Come with me, scavenger, and be careful not to fall behind."
