Rey stood next to Kylo's tall figure in the command shuttle control room, watching the bright stars that sailed past the ship.
"Where are we heading now?" Rey asked, observing the side of Kylo's pale face as his gaze remained trained before him. He looked especially sallow, a faint purplish coloring developing under his weary eyes.
"East," he said cryptically.
Rey leaned over and observed the coordinates he'd logged into the ship's autopilot system, but she didn't recognize them.
"I have to stop off for fuel soon. This ship doesn't carry much, it isn't intended for long-distance travel," Kylo explained.
Rey nodded, then returned her gaze to the passing stars ahead. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling bored and somewhat awkward in their silence. She felt that the air between them was discernibly tense.
There was no where else on the ship for her to venture; the space within the ship itself was very limited, almost claustrophobic. The command shuttle consisted of only the control room in which they currently stood, a storage room and a small bathroom at the back of the craft, as well as a windowless central chamber, filled only with a few seats lined along the back wall.
"Are we going someplace far away?" Rey asked, wondering how long they'd be staying in the cramped quarters of the ship.
"You could say that," Kylo said, still not turning to look at her.
"Well, if we are, why don't we use something that is intended for long-distance travel?" She asked. "We could trade this one in for a—"
Kylo turned his face momentarily to shoot her an annoyed glare. "No," he said, his tone one of childlike defiance.
"But don't you think that would make more sense?" Rey pressed. She studied the side of his shadowy face, watching his brows lowering.
"We're keeping this one," he stated firmly.
"I didn't see any sleeping quarters on this thing," Rey muttered.
Kylo looked at her askance, frustration marking his dark features. "That's because there are none," he retorted, shifting his gaze back to the window.
Rey glared at him, puzzled. She suddenly realized that she might be able to get into his head in his weakened state. She began to press into his mind, sensing the pain he felt in his head, the lasting infliction from Snoke's attack.
Kylo shot her a look, but then shut his eyes and seemed to wince as he pressed a hand against his head. He leaned forward over the desk, his hand still pressed against his forehead, clearly straining to keep her out. She sensed that his pain increased as she forged her way into his mind.
"Don't, don't," he said, and Rey was surprised at his almost pleading tone. She immediately retracted from his mind, but she'd found what she was looking for. Kylo let out a strained breath.
"You just don't want to give up this ship because it's yours," Rey gibed. "You're fond of it and you want to keep it." She cracked a half-smile, amused at his childish possessiveness.
He straightened himself, frowning down at her in annoyance. "That's not why. It's reliable, it's fast...there's no other ship like it."
Rey raised an eyebrow, her half-smile turning skeptical. "I've seen the truth, you don't have to admit it," she taunted.
Kylo glared at her a moment longer before abruptly turning away, leaving the control room. He clearly wasn't used to dealing with being questioned or ridiculed; to Rey, it didn't seem like Kylo quite knew how to react.
Curious, Rey moved over to the autopilot screen to search the virtual map of the coordinates they were heading towards. She expanded the map as much as she could, marvelling at its detailed depiction of the galaxy and all of its systems.
Rey's eyes trailed along the line of their logged course, noticing that it was heading them towards the East, as Kylo had said, in the opposite direction of the Outer Rim.
The line of travel continued well past the galaxy core, and Rey's eyes began to widen as she saw that their point of destination really consisted of no exact point at all; they were headed to a nearly blank, unmapped section of the galaxy: the Unknown Regions.
This was the mysterious and unowned territory where Starkiller Base had been, where the First Order itself had been rumored to have been started. Why would Kylo take them there?
Scowling down at the map, Rey was lost in deep thought and confusion. She was sure he wasn't taking her to Snoke. Fairly sure. But he had betrayed Luke, and subsequently his own father—would he now betray her?
Rey left the control room in a flush of growing concern and turned the corner into the central chamber of the ship, intending to interrogate Kylo. However, when she stepped into the larger room, she saw him in one of the chairs at the back wall, his figure motionless. He was leaned into the side of the chair, his dark, tousled hair obscuring most of his sallow face. To Rey's astonishment, Kylo seemed to have fallen asleep.
She stared at his lanky figure curiously, wondering how he could have passed out in such a short amount of time. Perhaps he had been more mentally and physically drained than she had discerned.
Rey watched him from across the changer, intrigued at him in this placid state. She pressed gently into his mind, not wanting to wake him. She faintly sensed his pain, the throbbing in his head, the ringing in his ears, all of which Rey realized was not unlike what she herself had experienced after the suppressant drugs had been injected into her on Zephus.
Rey glanced at the cold metal floor as she felt a small sense of empathy, realizing the extent of the injury that Snoke must have inflicted on him. She herself had felt great pain in the moment that Snoke had attacked Kylo, so sudden and intense that it had knocked her to her knees. Her ship had at the time been travelling through an asteroid field, and she'd nearly crashed as she struggled to pilot the vessel through the floating obstacles.
Sighing, Rey moved closer to Kylo, still keeping some distance between them. She closed her eyes, holding her palm out in the direction of his head. She wasn't sure exactly what she was doing, but she felt compelled to try something, almost instinctively.
Rey calmed her mind, accessing the Force, gathering all of her strength. She tried to focus on only positive, light thoughts as she began sending her own energy through her outstretched palm, towards Kylo.
She continued this for several minutes, focusing on directing her energy until she lowered her arm back to her side with a quick breath, reopening her eyes. Her breathing had become labored, and exhaustion suddenly overcame her.
Rey backed out of the room, her lids heavy, leaving Kylo to rest. She walked dazedly back into the control room, flopping down into one of the two comfortable pilot's seats, deciding to take a nap herself.
When Rey blinked awake, her eyes focused ahead at a scene of glistening stars, a sliver of a large red planet in the bottom left corner of the window.
Rey straightened herself, realizing that the ship had stopped above this red planet. She feebly stood up, rubbing her eyes. She turned, surveying the control room, but she was alone in it.
She felt a sudden sense of alarm, wondering if Kylo had left the ship, and felt frantically for his presence. She let out a breath as she sensed him nearby, probably in the central chamber. Rey rubbed her eyes frustratedly, unsure of why she why she had reacted so.
She headed into the central room and saw that the sliding door to the storage room at the back of the chamber was open. She walked towards it, stopping in the doorway as she saw a cloaked Kylo standing before a small shelving unit, pulling on a black glove.
He looked over at her, his eyebrows raising slightly. Rey noticed that his face seemed to have renewed color, the purplish hues that had previously marked his eyes and temples much more faint.
He straightened himself, watching her carefully as he slipped on his other glove.
"Where are we? I thought you'd left, to that planet we're orbiting," Rey said.
Kylo tilted his head. "And what, just leave you here, on my ship?" He asked.
Rey opened her mouth to speak, but was at a loss for words. Kylo stared at her a moment longer before turning back towards the shelf, pulling out another cloak, a pair of gloves, and a large neck wrap, and he handed these items to her.
She hesitantly took them, looking at him questioningly.
"You'll need to disguise yourself," He said matter-of-factly. "This place is safer than Zephus...but not by much."
Rey nodded and turned back into the central area, setting the clothing down onto a chair. She was surprised that Kylo had just assumed that she was going with him down to the planet; she'd expected an argument about it, as had happened before with Poe and Finn, when they had wanted her to stay on the ship while they got fuel on Zephus. Rey marvelled at the differences in these same situations.
She began to pull on the cloak, gloves, and neck wrap, all of which were too large on her; they'd obviously been made for a larger, more masculine figure. Rey remembered how she'd looked in the mirror at herself in Kylo's clothes, how comically overwhelming they had been on her smaller frame. She imagined that she didn't look much different now.
Rey began adjusting the large neck wrap to leave slack to cover her face as Kylo entered the common area, a wrap set loosely around his own neck. He paused to observe her, tilting his head slightly.
"What?" Rey asked, but Kylo merely shook his head, continuing on into the control room.
After adjusting the scarf, she followed, trying to keep the excess cloth of the cloak behind her to avoid treading on it with her boots.
She watched as Kylo reignited the engines, directing the ship directly towards the planet as they began their descent. As he steered, he glanced back over his shoulder at her. "Watch your back at all times here," he said, turning to focus back on directing the ship. "Use the Force to keep all of your senses aware."
Luke's warning to not use the Force reverberated in Rey's head, and she thought about this for a silent moment before speaking.
"How exactly do I do that?" She asked Kylo, stepping up to his side. She looked up at him inquiringly.
Kylo turned his face, clearly hesitating to speak as his dark eyes focused onto hers. "I'll show you."
As the command shuttle touched down on the large planet, which Kylo had said was called Stoltara, Rey observed the red sand that stretched before them, a village with low buildings on the horizon. The sand seemed to glisten amidst the light of the setting sun, which was faded by the thick, cloudy atmosphere.
She turned to watch Kylo, who was focused on locking the landing gear in place and turning off the ship's engines. His thick black hair hung off of as his forehead as he leaned over the control board, turning switches and setting on some sort of security system.
When he finished, he glanced over at her, noticing that she'd been watching him. Rey quickly diverted her gaze back to the window before her.
Rey reached into her cloak and put a hand on the hilt of her lightsaber, wondering if she should leave it behind on the ship. She didn't want to risk losing it again, as she had on Zephus.
"Do you plan on using that on me right now?" Kylo asked, and Rey's eyes widened as she looked up at him. His eyebrows were raised at the hand on her lightsaber.
Rey shook her head, dropping her hand. "No. I don't."
"Make sure to keep that hidden. Unless, of course, you're planning on fighting me," he said mockingly, and he turned to leave the control room.
Rey tilted her head as she watched him turn the corner, surprised at his casual teasing. She followed him to an exit door at the side of the ship, located in front of one of the ship's vertical wings.
Kylo glanced back at her as he waved his hand at the door, opening it with the Force, and stepped down onto the red sand below.
Rey remained standing in the open doorway of the ship, peering ahead at the remote, seemingly small town. She felt Kylo's gaze, and she shifted her gaze to see him looking looking up at her expectantly, his dark hair blowing across his forehead in the warm breeze. She stepped down from the ship, and Kylo waved his hand, sealing the door.
Kylo pulled his dark neck wrap up over his nose and mouth, and lifted his hood over his head so only his dark, shadowy eyes remained visible. Rey did the same, and after she had pulled her own large hood over her head, she lifted it slightly to peer at Kylo.
They exchanged a silent look, Kylo's eyes focused directly on hers. In this moment, Rey somehow developed the impression that he knew that she'd tried healing him while he'd been asleep. As she searched his dark eyes, she couldn't help but feel that a sense of rapport passed between them.
After their brief visual exchange, Kylo shifted his shadowy gaze and began moving lithely ahead, towards the village. Rey began trudging along behind him, finding it more difficult to move through the thick and shifting red sea of sand.