Rey's head pounded. In less than two days she had fallen fifteen feet down a star destroyer's belly, been nearly crushed by a rusty shelf, had been sold into slavery, and (possibly most humiliatingly) was knocked out by some sort of creature hiding its face behind a mask while trying to stage a mutiny.

Now, lying in a dark cell somewhere in the First Order base on an unknown planet, she realized that for the first time in years, she was truly alone. There had always been someone before, whether it was the other junkers or even Unkar Plutt, as despicable as he was. Even at her loneliest, there were always people not far away. Here, though, she was completely and utterly on her own.

She turned over, desperately trying to slip back into unconsciousness. Sleep remained elusive, though, and with a long sigh she sat up and squinted at her surroundings.

As soon as she opened her eyes, Rey was blinded by the white lights starkly outlining the small cell she sat in. The brightness was an affront on her senses, and stabbed at her eyes through her lids which she had quickly closed.

Mumbling to herself, she slowly eased her eyes back open, allowing herself to adjust to the room. It was nearly bare, a small square of darkly reflective metal, the light bouncing off the ceiling and walls. Here, against one wall, was the bunk she had been laying on. It was barely large enough for her, and Rey wondered how other, larger prisoners fared in the tiny space.

Against the opposite wall stood a small chair next to a shallow sink. Another wall was nearly open, except for the thick black bars which kept her a prisoner.

Rey gritted her teeth. She had been stupid. No, more than that. She had been angry, and had allowed fear to get the better of her. Part of her knew there had been no hope of escape, but she would rather have died trying to fight her way out of the base than be subjugated to whatever horrors the First Order did to its slaves. There was no way of knowing how little time she had until they had arrived at the large doors. She couldn't have had any idea what was waiting for her behind them, either.

Kylo Ren. The name left a sour taste in her mouth. She never thought he was real, until she saw him in person in the middle of the battle. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure he was a person. Who knows what could be hiding behind that mask of his? She shuddered. If his face matched his personality, he must be hideous.

"I'm flattered to find you thinking of me," came a familiar voice. She whipped her head around, then groaned as the room spun far longer than it should have. In spite of her anger, fear, and pain, she willed herself to look up at the dark figure in the doorway.

"You."

He tilted his head at her. "Me."

Rey felt the anger rising in her as she stared at the passively blank mask in front of her. "What do you want from me?" It was a struggle to keep her voice calm.

He continued to stare at her, silent.

Suddenly the chair flew across the cell and splintered directly in front of the open wall of the cell, dark wooden pieces ricocheting off of the bars and the silent man in front of them. Rey let out a scream, her face blotchy, and abruptly sat back down onto the bed, facing the back (and mercifully blank) wall.

An unfamiliar noise made her start, ears pricking up toward the dark figure.

Laughter. The bastard was actually laughing at her. He saw her anger, and her pain, and he dared to laugh? She turned around again to face him, to make him leave or at least explain himself, but stopped short at the sight in front of her.

Ren was standing inside her cell with her. She had no idea how he managed to be so quiet, especially being so incredibly large, and how he had gotten through the bars without any discernable keys or unlocking mechanisms.

"There are ways to enter rooms without touching the doors, scavenger." His metallic voice once again dripped with distain. "Surely even you, on that wasteland of a planet, must have heard about about the Force." He paused, seemingly considering her wide eyes and heavy breathing. "Do you sense it within yourself? Have you felt it?"

Rey let out her breath in a slow hiss, leaning away from the dark and imposing figure looming over her.

He continued, pacing around the small room. "Are you going to talk voluntarily or do I need to pry it from your mind?" Again he stopped in front of her, a menacing figure swathed in dark fabric.

In his helmet Rey saw her own face reflected, pale and fearful. She opened her mouth, wetting her cracked lips and willing herself to stare directly back at the monster in front of her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

She could almost imagine a cruel and inhuman smile underneath the mask he wore. "This is going to hurt."

"I'm not afraid of you."

Kylo Ren raised his hand in front of her and she was once again rendered immobile, and was forced down on to the narrow bunk. Her headed pounded in rhythm with her heartbeat, getting stronger as his hand crept closer and closer to her forehead.

Leather touched sweating skin. Rey screamed.

Pain. White-hot and blinding, charring the edges of her consciousness. She could feel him probing her mind, seeing everything. A sliver of thought raced across her anguished brain.

NO.

Some things are not meant to be taken. Some things are not meant to be seen.

Rey gathered everything left of herself, everything untainted by his presence, and pushed back.

She opened her streaming eyes to the brightness of her cell, staring back at the impassive mask in front of her. The hand on her forehead shook slightly, as if startled.

"Get out – of – my – head."

With the last word she gathered up his darkness, his fire, his pain, and thrust it back into him.

A dark haired boy runs through an unfamiliar hallway.

He runs from the voices in his head.

A young woman looks on as she watches a man fly away again in his ship.

The boy cries at night. The voices are getting louder. His mother isn't there to banish them.

A broken bone of a bully.

Saying goodbye to the man and woman, standing in an unfamiliar forest.

Other children. Never being good enough. Never being included.

The voices are his allies.

Peace is a lie.

The scent of burning flesh fills the air.

There is only passion.

He looks down at himself, pale in the light of the fire, hands dripping in the blood of his classmates. If he can't belong anywhere else, he will belong here.

"STOP."

The clouding darkness finally left Rey's mind, and she found herself back in the cell, staring at the retreating figure of Kylo Ren.

She opened her mouth. "You."

His hooded figure against the wall didn't move.

She pressed on. "You're afraid. That you'll never be as strong as Darth Vader." At her words, the metal bars on the cell crunched inward on themselves, bending and breaking as if they were no more than children's toys.

Rey forced her gaze not to waver, as Ren turned slowly to face her once more. Opening her mouth, about to speak, she was cut off by a rough hand underneath her arm.

"Wait! Where are you taking me?" Rey asked in shock as he hauled her to her feet and through the wreckage of the cell door.

He gave no answer, not as they rushed through nearly silent halls, nor brushed passed dozens of doors. His silence, after everything which had just occurred between them in her cell, scared her more than his brutal mind reading.

They entered an elevator, and in the silence of its walls she dared to speak again. "Please, just tell me where we're going."

He turned to look at her for the first time since they left her cell.

"I need answers. I am taking you to my master."

The doors opened.

This semester is a busy one, but I'm really hoping to start updating more frequently! I'm super excited as to where this story is going. Also, in response to a question about the title of this story, it does come from the rune in Madeline L'Engle's book A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes history and science fiction.