Sorry for the late update, school's been excruciatingly busy. I go on break this Friday though, after my finals. Really looking forward to that!

I hope the writing quality isn't diminishing. Please let me know what you think about it. If you like it, review! If you hate it, well, also review!

"Let's go," Kylo commanded. Rey and Sula both followed him as he left the tavern.

As soon as they stepped outside, Rey's eyes widened.

"Maker—" her voice left her throat at the sight.

The sky was dark, but it wasn't entirely pitch-black, for it was only early in the evening. However, that wasn't what caught Rey's eyes. Somewhere in the distance, there was an enormous plume of smoke, dust, and fire rising into the night sky like a wildfire out of control.

People around them were scrambling for cover, in a loud bustle and screaming as they observed the ungodly sight in the sky. Something bad had happened. Something really bad.

Rey almost toppled over when another tremendous boom shook the ground beneath her feet. Villagers began clamoring in the opposite direction, and Rey spun on her feet to see another cloud of carnage began to seep upwards.

"They've split up!" she heard Sula shouted over the screaming. "They're distracting us!"

Kylo furiously whipped out his communicator and muttered something into it. Rey couldn't hear what he said over the noise.

"Jarrok will be nearby and patrolling several side entrances. Deimos, Leo, and Lype will be working their way into the city from their posts."

"And me?" Rey heard Sula ask, while she pulled out her helmet.

"You will be joining them, Sula. They will reach the outskirts of the east sector momentarily. Keep your communicator turned on. I have informed them of your soon arrival."

"Yes, Supreme Leader!" She turned around to leave, but Rey reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Sula," she said, biting her lip in worry. "Please be safe."

Sula gave her a real smile before putting on her mask. And then she left. It only took a few seconds before she lost herself in the storm of panicked civilians.

"Rey…" Kylo muttered. If it was anything else other than her name that came out of him, she was sure she would have missed it.

"Before you start," she warned, walking up to him. She took his face and smeared her lips over his before tearing herself off of him. "We're in this together. There is no you, and there is no me. Only us."

There was a dark passion in his eyes and Rey realized that if it were for the life-threatening situation they were in, he would have ravaged her on the spot. A small thrill ran through her at the prospect of that, but she quickly stifled it.

"What are we going to do?"

"Keep your mind on your lightsaber. Don't hesitate to bring it to use. No doubt Damesh and his men are already plotting out their course for escape."

Just as he finished speaking, another loud boom ricocheted through the distance.

"We're running out of time."

The two of them turned toward the nearest explosion. The same plan came to mind and the two started running toward the destruction. It only made sense to go observe the damage that was closest to them in case if it led them to any clues or even to the perpetrators themselves. Their journey was made difficult, however, by the hordes of civilians that were running in the opposite direction. Rey felt a brief disturbance in the Force as Kylo pushed through the mass of dozens and realized that his patience at the villagers blocking their path was dwindling.

But eventually, they made it through to the site where the smoke was rising up. Or at least, Rey thought they did.

What used to be a little block full of peddler shops and personal homes was now nothing more than an empty square full of debris from the wooden carts and foundation of the buildings. There were several enormous gaping cracks in the ground before them, and they ran on for quite a long distance before making way to large empty holes in the ground.

Rey walked over to one and immediately stepped back when she saw just how deep it was. It didn't make sense to her. Why was there only a few places in the area that had these gaping holes that stretched as deep as her eyes could see?

The concept of being alone, with only Kylo by her side, in a place that used to be so full of life unsettled her. Rey could still see the charred remains of peddler wares littered into a million pieces on the floor. There were articles of shredded clothes and tinkering toys that lay still, their worthiness stripped from them by their destruction.

It was nothing more than a wasteland.

"Why would Damesh do such a thing?" she found herself asking. Her fists were balled in fury. "Why?"

All this death. All this destruction. The ruin of dozens, if not hundreds of villagers' homes. Their lives would never be the same because of this. All because of…

"I don't know, Rey. I don't know," she heard him say. His answer wasn't good enough for her.

She took it out on the only person she could: Kylo.

Walking up to him, she shoved him. Hard. He was caught off guard and stumbled back a few steps before righting himself with a confused and deadly look in his face.

"How could you!" she hissed, ready to pounce again. "You did this! You and the cowardly First Order are the causes of all of this!"

Kylo seemed to gather himself and stepped forward, his anger rivaling her own.

"You will not dare accuse me nor the First Order of such heinous acts!" he seethed. "Or are you that desperate to place your anger on the only outlet available to you?!"

"You've ruined their lives! If it wasn't for the stupid First Order, this would have never happened to begin with! If you just worked together with the people of Rost, then Damesh wouldn't have even attacked the ships to begin with!"

"The transport vehicles were only here for a scheduled refueling! You out of everyone knows how valuable this planet's fuel resources are!"

Rey laughed. Not a happy, bubbling one, but a dark mocking one. Her hand twitched. She wanted so eagerly to rip her lightsaber out and fight Kylo with it.

"Damesh wasn't tagging along and following the stupid First Order! He lived here and took his chance when he could! And now, because he knows we're in Rost, he's decided to ransack the place! Or was that not obvious enough for you to determine, Kylo?" she spat.

There was another explosion in the near distance, but Rey was far too involved with the matter at hand. She wanted him to see his ways, and to see how his recent method of governing was, in short, wrong.

"We can't argue about this now!" Kylo vented. It was obvious he had heard the explosion too.

Rey wanted to do just that to spite Kylo, but her ears picked up another sound. This one was much softer, but it caught her attention far more than the explosions did.

Her eyes widened and her head spun to the sound. All the fight and anger immediately evaporated out of her as she found herself spring toward the heavy destruction.

"Kylo!" she shouted, not waiting to see if he'd respond. "I need your help!"

She reached the spot where she heard the sound and listened for another cry of help, but she couldn't.

"Hello?" she vocalized, feeling slightly foolish at talking to the inanimated debris in front of her.

There was no response. Maybe she was imagining things…

But then she heard the same weak voice. She could feel Kylo's Force change as he shifted from angry and petulant to surprise just as she had moments ago.

"Get out of the way," he growled, shoving Rey over to the side. Rey didn't even feel him touch her. All she could focus on was the caught civilian buried beneath.

She didn't even have to ask to know what Kylo was doing. His hands lifted up in their black gloves and all the destroyed material began to shift and clutter about as they lifted up. He worked layer by layer, taking care to dump the excess debris elsewhere that would be of no hindrance to their operations. Before long, Rey could see a bloody hand.

"Kylo! There!"

Kylo continued to work with the Force and lifted up object after object until there was enough space for Rey to squeeze in and tug the person out by their hand.

"There. Is that more along the lines of the kind of person you want me to be?"

Rey ignored his remark and focused on pulling the person out. The progress was slow, but sure. However, Rey lost her balance at her last tug, but still managed to get the villager out in one piece. She collapsed on her bottom at the physics of it but got up immediately at the sight before her eyes.

The person had lost a lot of blood—that much she knew. There was hardly any space on the surface of their body that wasn't covered in blood, except a few spots on their face. She couldn't even tell if it was a man or woman until she noticed the distraught, long locks that fell down past her head and to her chest.

"Hello?" she asked.

Rey tried shaking her next, but there was still no response. The person's eyes were closed and she wasn't moving.

Her breath caught. This couldn't be happening…

Rey shook her again but was presented with the same results. "No, no, no," she chanted. She pressed her fingers against the side of the victim's neck and tried to test for a pulse.

But there was none.

"No, no!" Her voice began to rise and paranoia began to set in. She leaned her ear down to the woman's heart and tried as hard as she could to hear for something—anything that would bestow to her that there was life. But there were no thuds and there weren't any pulses.

"No. You can't. You can't be dead!" Tears began to cascade down Rey's face, but she couldn't feel them over the raw pain of someone who was alive not minutes ago now dead. It couldn't be. She refused to accept it.

Rey pushed her hands on the woman's chest and called the Force to her. It was so hard for her to concentrate, but the Force seemed to agree with her decision and came to her fingertips with ease. She felt the warmth of green light bathe over the woman's chest, trying its hardest to repair her cells.

There was a voice. She could barely hear him.

"Rey…it's no use."

"Don't tell me that!" she snarled at him. "Don't! Keep your lies to yourself!"

She pushed the Force within her even harder, to a higher level than she ever had before. She brimmed with pure, unadulterated power and her hands glowed a green so bright that her eyes began to hurt.

But she couldn't feel any signs of life.

"Come on, damn it!" she pleaded. If possible, her power grew even larger until it threatened to consume her. She could feel her body groaning against how much energy she was exerting. Her chest began to hurt and her arms began to feel like heavy weights had been attached to her elbows. She knew she was weakening, but she couldn't give up. Even if only there was a small chance to save her, she had to take it.

There was an almighty heave of disruptance that suddenly pushed her away from the woman. The break in contact caused Rey's Force healing to simmer out, and the sight of the destroyed homes and dirty surroundings came back to her field of vision. She blinked twice, eviscerating the tears that were in her eyes as she slowly came to realize what had happened.

"How could you!" she screamed at Kylo as hard as she could through her shallow breaths. "I was going to save her!"

Rey got to her feet. Or, at least, tried to. She wobbled and fell back down the ground, but was then helped to her feet by Kylo.

"You couldn't have. She was dead. It's impossible to reanimate a person after they have passed."

"I don't care!" she shouted. Rey knew she was being petulant, but the opportunity that was ripped away from her absolutely destroyed her on the inside. She had the power to save her, and she didn't.

"Enough, Rey! Do you hear me? You can't save her! You would die!"

"I don't care!"

"Listen to yourself! Stop it!"

"I don't care!"

"Well, I do! You'd die!" Kylo spun her around and roared in her face. "You'd die!"

At the panic in his voice, she stopped. There was anger embedded in his features, but she looked beyond that—beyond the annoyance and darkness in his eyes, to something that held much more vulnerability.

For a second, she saw what Kylo would have become if she let the Force take her life. And just like that, the fight left her.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, breaking down in his arms. She saw. She saw pure, genuine fear. Fear at what would happen to him if she left him.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "I'm so sorry."

At her apology, Kylo's shoulders slumped and the fight left him. She could feel his embrace covering her small frame, and the thought of it warmed her and filled her with a strange peace.

But now wasn't the time to dote on such feelings. For the second time in an hour, Rey had to chide herself. She needed to put her own personal feelings aside and do whatever she could in her power to help the people of Rost.

"Kylo, we need to see how many people are injured. We have to save as many people as we can."

Kylo stiffened and then released her. Rey immediately missed the warmth. She almost regretted saying anything at all by the sudden look of annoyance on his face.

"We can't."

"We—"

"We can't!" he repeated, this time shouting. "Our mission here is to find Damesh and his men, not sit behind and rescue people."

Rey opened her mouth to argue but was cut off.

"I know what you are thinking. But we can't do this. We neither have the time nor the resources to do so."

Kylo saw her slumped gesture and didn't like it one bit. He grit his teeth at the girl in front of him. If only they would spend less time fighting.

Rey saw him whip out his communication device.

"Stormtroopers, leave your stations and route to where the explosions are. I want everyone to start digging. Look for any survivors."

Rey's eyes widened. Was Kylo really doing this?

A moment passed and she realized that he actually was doing this. Sacrificing part of his beliefs in order to fulfill hers. A strange glow warmed her heart and she couldn't help the smile that lifted to her face. He saw this and for a second, Rey could see them, just the two of them, having a life of their own—away from the war, and away from the troubles. With nothing to bother them.

But that's why it was called wishful thinking. Rey was jerked out of her thoughts when Kylo's voice rang again.

"We need to go."

Rey gave him conformation and the two of them set off again. She turned around to look at the deceased villager one last time, her heart wrenching as she took in the sight of a dirty, serene face void of all worry. Did she find her peace in her last moments of life? Or was it suffering until the bitter end?

The two of them weaved through the relatively empty roads. The city's inhabitants appeared to have already left the premise. The roads were dark and desolate, with only nearby lamps standing sentinel and casting their tiny glow of light over the small area they were erected in. Not a single soul passed by in the direction they were going, and Rey's ponderings were only further verified when she heard the massive roar of several passenger ships lifting off the ground. From the distance they were in, the ships were nothing more than strange figures floating in the sky.

"Kylo!" she pulled on his arm to get him to stop running.

"What?" Kylo asked. His eyes then followed her finger to where it was pointing at. He understood the voiceless question that Rey asked him.

"No. They are the villagers. The ships are employed by the government and used only in emergencies."

"Couldn't have Damesh sneaked on board?"

"I highly doubt it. The man is a wanted fugitive. No one would willingly allow him to seek shelter. Even if he somehow were to sneak aboard amongst hundreds of individuals, someone would be bound to recognize him."

"What, then?"

"He must have a ship off-site, somewhere away from the city. Possibly even further than where we la—"

Rey sensed the danger at the same time Kylo stopped talking and both of them moved as one entity. Her first instinct was to duck, and she did so, feeling the narrow miss of a blade as the hand that it belonged to stabbed out of the darkness around the corner of the street that they were standing in. She could sense Kylo spin around, parrying another strike of the assailant's blade with his already-activated lightsaber. He gave another brief parry and then jumped back toward Rey.

"Come out!" he snarled, pointing his weapon in the dark.

There was no verbal response. The next thing they knew, a blaster bolt shot towards them. Kylo reached out and froze it.

Rey drew her lightsaber as well, holding it close her face like she was accustomed to and lighted it. Two beams shot out, one on each end. With the combined light of their weapons, Rey could vaguely begin to see who was around the corner. And it was a second later that she realized it wasn't who that was the question, but how many.

Several bulky shadows all made their way out from their hiding spot around the corner and stood in full presence in front of the two. Rey gasped. Kylo was no small man, but almost all of their attackers were either the same size, if not larger than he was. Each of them were dressed in black with several inconspicuous weapons at their side. Many of them had opted to go for a medieval era, donning swords and daggers as long as her arm. Several more of them had blaster rifles that mirrored Han Solo's. Scraps or cloth wrapped around their head and face, leaving only their eyes blistering full of hatred available for her to see.

Rey swiveled her head, adrenaline storming in her veins. She counted a dozen. Twelve strong men standing before them with their knees bent, ready to fight.

The man standing before his comrades took a few steps forward and Rey bristled. Kylo's body was pressed on hers, and she could feel him tense as well.

"If it isn't the Supreme Leader, filth of the First Order," the man spewed. He pulled down the mask covering his mouth and spat at Kylo's feet. "Scum."

"Get out of our way."

The man laughed, and several of his cohorts behind him did as well. A mixture of chortles rose around Rey's ears before quickly dying away.

The man spoke again.

"That isn't possible. We—"

Whatever he was saying was lost to Rey's ears at the sudden presence of Kylo's voice in her mind. It was rough and encroached.

Damesh's men. He's not here.

We have to go after him!

I know, Rey. But his henchmen are not going to let us go. I'll try to keep them distracted while you go meet up with the rest of my Knights

Rey froze. No.

She knew Kylo wanted to argue but he couldn't do so without giving something away. Their enemies across from them hadn't realized the silent conversation going on between the pair.

Rey, this is no joke! These men are dangerous and are not looking to capture.

"Our conflicts lie with your leader, not you. Surrender and we will spare your lives," she heard Kylo say out loud.

Let me tell you one thing, Kylo. Listen well, because I'm not going to repeat myself. We are in this together. Together! I am not going to let you fight all twelve of these men. You may be strong, but not invincible.

I can take care of them just fine.

Then your worries will be lessened, because together, we have double the force.

"What a surprise!" the leader cackled, bringing them conversation to a standstill. "I sure wasn't expecting Kylo Ren in the flesh himself! Boss sure will be surprised when we bring back your head. Although, I must say, you're a lot less intimidating without your helmet on." The man settled his eyes on a certain area of Kylo's face. "And a lot uglier too. Who gave you that scar? I'd like to thank them for it."

Rey could feel Kylo's eyes involuntarily flicker to her. This didn't go unnoticed by the leader of the group.

"Oh ho!" he cackled, leaning back and pointing his finger accusingly at Kylo. "Your little apprentice playtoy? I should give her a token of appreciation."

For the first time since the meeting, the man settled his eyes on Rey. She could feel the hairs on her arms immediately stiffen at his voracious gaze and the way his eyes scoured her up and down. There was almost a hungry look to his face, and Rey didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. She wanted to throw up.

"Although I should probably give her just more than my gratitude, eh? Something much warmer and personal than that. What do you think, girl? My men have been slaving away days for this operation, and they're getting a little restless. Why don't we just take you back to our base after killing the Supreme Leader? It's time for you to get a new master."

The end of his spiel had the rest of the men laughing and it was in this split second of brief weakness that everyone let down their guard. Everyone except Kylo.

The man was pulled over to him faster than lightning—in fact, so fast that if Rey had blinked she would have missed the interaction. Kylo didn't even bother raising his hand. It was as something else entirely possessed him at the thought of Rey being enslaved. The man soared over to Kylo and he didn't even have time to react.

Right before the demonic roar of Kylo's blade plunged right through his chest.

A static silence enveloped the clearing—a silence so thick that it warned no one to breathe. The only attention of focus was on the small dip of the head of the leader as he comprehended for a tiny second in time on what had happened to him before his shoulders slumped and his weight sagged. Kylo pulled his blade out of the man's chest and brandished it off to the slide as the leader collapsed to the ground, one last measly breath evaporating out of his mouth before he died.

For the longest time, nobody moved. Everyone across from there was staring at the ground, dumbfounded and even more dumbstruck at their slain leader. They were in disbelief and didn't move at all until the sharp sizzle of Kylo's lightsaber drew their attention back to him. Back to them.

Even though their faces were covered, Rey could still spectate their body language tensing and the look in their eyes as it hit them one at a time, like a mass crowd effect.

And then they charged at them.

Whether it were battle roars coming from their mouths or cries of desperation, Rey didn't have any time to react. They were on her and Kylo immediately, unsheathing their weapons and slashing at them wildly with little finesse. Rey blocked one man's attack with her staff saber and immediately twirled it around afterward, resetting it into a defensive position. Her slice had cut right through the pommel of his sword, but she had no time to breathe a sigh of relief before another man took his place.

Rey didn't want to turn on the offensive, but being defensive was not going to work out forever. All the men obviously had training experience when it came to fighting, and if their weapons had exhausted their use, then they resorted with their fists. This made it very difficult for Rey. She was getting pushed back at her refusal to cut them down.

A defeated groan came from a few lengths away and Rey turned her head toward it as she jumped out of range of her current attacker to see another person drop at Kylo's blade.

"What are you doing?!" he snarled at her, his hair wet from the blood of his victim. "Kill them!" His voice was then cut off as he had to return his attention to a blaster shot from a ways off while dealing with the man in front of him.

Rey stubbornly grunted, shoving the man on top of her away with a brutal thrust forward of her hilt. She refocused her attention and felt the Force swarming within her. The man with the blaster rifle was still shooting, and it put Kylo in a predicament. She felt concerned, and then her fight or flight instinct was replaced by something more concrete—her teachings from Kylo.

Follow her emotions.

Rey took a deep breath and allowed for her concern to find steady ground and plant itself firmly inside her. She could feel the need to let it expand, and she gave in, letting the concern grow and manifest until it became far more than the small speck it was in the beginning. It rippled through her entire being until all she could see was Kylo and the danger he was in.

Rey screamed and Force-blasted the man on top of her. He crumpled to the side and stopped moving. She jumped to her feet pushed everyone coming after her with a mere swipe of her hand. They flew off to the side and cleared the path that led her to the man shooting.

Rey wasted no time and sprinted to him. The man had heard the sound of his comrades screams as the Force heaved into them, but he was focused on trying to get a shot in on Kylo. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure in black wielding a large glowing red weapon.

She was too fast for him. Rey closed the last couple of steps with a single breeze and in one fell swoop, cleaved the gun in half. Armed and defenseless, the man took a terrified step backwards, only to lose his balance and fall flat on his back.

There was a dark seed growing in Rey. She stared at the man beneath her feet and the darkness only served to spread more throughout her. There he was, cowering at her power, cowering at the control she had over him. Cowering at how the fate of his life rested in the hands of a young woman with an upright sneer coating her features.

"Wait—wait!" he shouted when he saw the blade stabbing downward.

Rey paused. There was something in his voice that stopped her. A vulnerability that perhaps indicated that his heart was not truly into serving Damesh voluntarily. An indication that he was maybe forced against his will to.

"Please don't! Don't kill me! You don't want to kill me!"

Rey squeezed the hilt of her blade. All it would take for her was to drive the blade into his chest with a simple push. He had attacked them. He had endangered Kylo's life. Someone who she deeply cared about.

But before she could give in to the darkness, another man came at her from the side. She had to quickly yield her weapon, bringing it up with one hand and deflecting the gun's bolt elsewhere. But the interaction that played made it so that her view was briefly obscured for a split second, which was all that the attacker needed to take advantage of her by tackling her roughly into the ground. Rey could feel her lightsaber deactivate and roll away from her on the ground.

"Not so tough without your boyfriend now, aren't you?" the man growled, spittle flying into her face.

Rey grunted and lashed out with her foot, but he read into her attack and caught her strike.

"Anyone can see your hesitancy from a block away, girly. I'd easily wager my life that if you knew the real truth, you wouldn't be doing this."

The fact that there was a humongous man camped on top of her sent Rey's distress to a whole new level and she utilized the dangerous situation to her advantage, tilting her fingers to the side and Force-pushing him off her. She heaved him over to the side and then scrambled to her feet, calling over her weapon and igniting it once again.

"You don't want to be a murderer like him! You're fighting for the wrong side!" the boy who had the blaster rifle mimicked off to the side, seemingly coming out of his petrified state. "You don't know what you've gotten yourself into!"

His words briefly cut through the dark emotions that she harnessed, and a spark of insecurity began to well inside Rey. She could familiarize herself with the position he was in. When she got dragged into the war, she had made it her mission to take down the First Order. Just like these men had.

And now she was fighting for them. Oh, stars.

The heavier man could now easily discern the small gleam of reticence in Rey's psyche, and he utilized it.

"Kylo Ren is nothing more than a soulless monster. You want to know why I fight for Damesh? Why I fight for freedom?" he spat, tumbling closer to Rey. "Huh?"

She should stop him. She should stop him from moving forward. One simple thrust. That's all it would take.

But she couldn't.

"I was the same as you," he sneered. "In existence to only mind my own business while the First Order tore apart any opposers in the galaxy. I lived on a nice peaceful planet. Nobody thought we would ever get tangled up in this mess."

"But then he came," the man pointed, accusing Kylo. Rey's eyes flitted to him and saw that he had stopped fighting; in fact, all the remaining soldiers that were still alive had paused in their endeavor to slice him down. Their attention had been diverted at the verbal confrontation between Rey and the man in front of her.

"He came and ransacked the whole planet. With a single blast from a massive weapon belonging to the First Order."

Rey's stomach swooped. Starkiller Base.

"Killed everyone on the planet. I was away on business but I returned home to nothing but obliterated remains of rock floating around in space. You want to know who died? Millions. And amongst those, my family. My wife and my two kids. By this man, without a single shred of remorse!"

He finished his story and a gloomy silence fell over the clearing. The only sounds in the vicinity were the heavy breaths and the two lightsabers crackling in the area. A second later, Rey turned hers off.

What are you doing?!

Rey ignored him.

Rey, he is trying to get under your skin! Don't let the enemy do this to you!

Is it true? Rey's voice came out in nothing more than a thought's whisper and this seemed to stupefy Kylo.

You have first-handedly experienced Starkiller Base.

That doesn't answer the question.

I do not know, Rey. What he said may or may not be true. There were a lot of planets. I—

Then it's true. You have already forgotten about it—a testament to how soulless you truly are.

She knew her remark would sting a thousand times more than when the man said it to her, and her feeling was verified by the sudden weakness she sensed within Kylo.

You have killed so many people that they are now all faceless.

"So what do you say? I see you're using a lightsaber. We could use someone as powerful as you on our side. I know what you truly want. You want to see the First Order lay to ruin also. We can do that. With your help, we can do that. Someone as strong as you could lead us further on the path to victory."

Rey shook her head, her mind already set.

"No. My loyalties may not lie with the First Order but they do not lie with yours either. You lot are no better than him," Rey said, chest tightening. "You have slaughtered a countless amount of innocent villagers, all to satisfy your operation. You all are nothing more than cowards."

The man sneered, his lip curling up in a vindictive expression. "So be it. Men!"

Rey whipped her head around. How could she have been so foolish and let him distract her?

Two men were on Kylo. There was one on each side, pulling on his arms until they were outstretched and locked in place. His lightsaber lay useless on the ground and his legs were kicking up in the air furiously in an attempt to break free from his disablers. A moment later, two more men ran up and yanked him by his legs, effectively locking all of his limbs in place. A fifth man stepped forward, scooping up the lightsaber and—

"No!" Rey screamed. Her vision turned red.

And the next thing she knew, Kylo's lightsaber flipped around in what would be Kylo's assassin's hand and lighted itself, spearing the would-be assailant straight through the heart.

He dropped to the ground. One down.

The unexpected death caused the four men to slightly relax their hold on Kylo as the viewed the gaping hole through the man's chest.

And that's all he needed. Kylo utilized their distractedness by pulling his arms forward and smashing two of the men together by their face before pulling his arms out. Rey was already waiting for him, and threw him his lightsaber after he broke free. He caught it with his hand and ignited it.

"What I said was true, you know. Every bit of it. But I knew you wouldn't join us. You're too dark. You and his weapon…they're the same. I can feel the evil coming from it. We can't take chances."

The remaining men closed around them.

This is nothing different than the throne room.

Rey growled. There was something animalistic possessing over her and it was Kylo's steady voice that set her off. The fact he could remain collected even in a moment like this. He, at least, did not have a conflict of loyalty. She had to release the pent-up frustration at everything—Kylo, the First Order, the Force, their attackers, and mostly herself—and Rey did just that, targeting the men in front of her. It was so unlike her to just give in. It was easy, but it threw her down into a path of someone she never wanted to become. But she couldn't fight it. It was too much. It was too hard. She held her own on Jakku. She held her own when she discovered the Force. But for the first time in her life, she succumbed to this. The sting of Kylo's betrayal and her own denial and uncertainties pushed her into a tiny box. The only way out was to give up. And she did.

The men stood silent, waiting for the recently-promoted leader to engage. He stood silent, cocking his head over to the side, waiting to see Rey's reaction.

Rey smirked. If they wanted to fight, then they would get a fight. She didn't even wait for them to make the first move. She ran straight at them, igniting her lightsaber as she did so.

In the end, their attackers didn't stand a chance. They were simple men caught in a battle against two Force users. Hardly fair. With Kylo's determination and Rey's rage, they made quick work of them. Rey gave them the most painless death she could—a quick stab through their hearts, while what remained of her shrouded morality involuntarily clenched hers at every pained expression she caused. At every life she took. At the life essence that she ripped away.

She had just finished striking a man down after spinning around and parrying one of his attacks with her lightsaber to her back. She turned around and saw Kylo had just disposed of his own victim. The two stood there, panting heavily and facing each other with their lightsabers ignited—the tip of Kylo's was pointing down at the ground, while she had her hand behind her back, holding the ignited blades behind her. She realized this and quickly drew it forward and shut hers off. Part of her hair had fallen out of its bun and she brushed it aside to get a better view of him. His expression was inscrutable but he walked up to her nonetheless.

"Thank you. For saving me." He took off his glove. She felt a firm squeeze of her hand. What felt right now felt wrong. Rey half-heartedly shrugged his grip off of her.

"Rey?"

He stepped around the carnage beneath his feet to move closer to her. Rey didn't move.

"Rey…" he said, this time softer. "My time under Snoke was filled with many mistakes. If I was giving the commands, I would not have done what I had done."

Rey stood there, unblinking and unseeing. She didn't know anything but one thing: she couldn't deal with him right now. She had always known and told herself that he was guilty of his atrocities, but hearing the same condemnation from another person—a person who had dealt with the torment himself—unsettled her more than anything ever. She knew he was full of hate, but the brief second he caught the small glimpses in his eyes when they were face-to-face spoke otherwise. The sensation of his lips on hers spoke otherwise. His presence said otherwise.

Rey turned away, her back facing him. There was another explosion, but the sound was infinitesimal in her own storm.

"Rey. Do you really believe me to be a soulless monster still? I have changed. You have changed me. You know it to be true. You can feel it. Now that Snoke is dead, I have no fear of hiding anymore. I would not have been able to heal you. You must believe me."

She knew that if she turned around she would lose all poise. The moment she stared into his eyes would be the moment that she broke down and cried and let all of her conflictions loose.

So she did the only thing she could. She pulled the aches in her body together and ran away. Without looking back. Kylo shouted out her name and tried to stop her, but Rey called the Force and threw at him all things that were available—the cadavers and weapons on the ground, the nearby streetlights—and distracted him with everything. As she ran, she finally let the dam break and all the tears that she had been holding in slipped out and fell onto the dirt road, leaving a wet trail in her steps. She clamped down on the connection between the two of them until it was squeezed so thinly that all it would take was a simple bend of her metaphoric wrist to snap it.

But no matter how thin it got, it wouldn't snap. So Rey did the second best thing: she covered it. She covered it with all the lost souls, all the torn lives fallen victim to the First Order. She covered it until she could no longer feel it.

That wasn't all. It took her a while before she discovered the root of her unsteady emotions. It wasn't just Kylo she was uncertain about, no. The trail of lifeless corpses not far behind her would forever be etched into her mind. Guilt struck. While running, Rey brought a hand up over her heart to her tunic and gripped it tightly.

It was herself. She was a monster.