It was dusk by the time they had reached the system that held their target. Rey touched her x-wing down onto the surface of a rain-weather boulder far below the tree line. She opened the hatch of her aircraft and took in her wild surroundings. The area was littered with trees almost as tall as the sky itself and foliage that peeked out of swamp flooded ground. Rey would almost be calmed by the serene sounds and smells of the planet, if it weren't for the mission that laid at hand.
Rey hit the ground beneath her with a hard thud, the impact sending a chill up her spine. The scavenger's body was unsteady and her mind at unease. 'It's not like I haven't had to kill before,' she thought, thinking back to her days of survival on Jakku. 'This should be easy.' But would it be? She killed before only to protect herself; it was in self-defense. Wouldn't this be self-defense too? If she didn't murder Kylo Ren instead of capturing him, wouldn't he certainly murder her once he had the chance?
These thoughts plagued Rey's mind as she treaded through the thick black waters of the planet, alone with her insecurities.
When Rey reached the outskirts of the well-hidden bunker, her comlink sang with the energy of the ongoing battle outside of the base. Resistance fights took shelter behind the thick trunks of trees, dodging the sharp fire from blasters from the enemy's platoon.
"Rey!" The scavenger whipped around to the resistance fighter who had called her name. "It's Kylo Ren. He fled north, further into the forest! They knew we were coming!"
Rey curtly nodded her head in acknowledgement and darted for the thicker foliage to the north, barely evading a blaster or two shot in her direction. She could feel him through the force, his signature quickly becoming stronger as Rey's feet pounded against the ground, carrying her faster and faster than she could have ever thought possible. It was time for her to be the predator, and Kylo Ren's chance to be the prey.
He stood in a small clearing, waiting for Rey to arrive with his lightsaber in hand. "It's good to finally see you, Rey," Kylo Ren spoke casually, his eyes sizing up the scavenger that had barely came to a stop at the edge of the tree line.
"You have no right to address me as some acquaintance," Rey hissed through gritted teeth, her own hand reaching to the belt at her hip to grasp the deadly weapon fastened there. "Not after what you did." Flashes of blood and snow dance behind Rey's eyes, fueling her unending rage.
"I hear the traitor survived. That's a shame." The hints of a smirk twitched at the corners of his lips, the slight movement crinkling part of the loose skin that made up his facial scar.
Whatever resolve Rey had shattered as she lunged at Kylo Ren, her lightsaber ignited and ready to land a fatal blow. Despite her extensive training, Kylo Ren batted off her attacks as if she were a simple insect. The sun sank lower and lower in the sky as their violent dance forged on. It was much harder to handle the First Order sympathizer at full health; much harder than Rey had even expected.
A new determination lit within Rey's eyes, the scavenger smirking in defiance. "Come on, you coward! Fight me like your life depends on it," she shouted, firmly standing her ground. "Don't fight me like the coward you were when you killed your father, Ben."
A flurry of emotions twisted Kylo Ren's face into a mask of pure hate, a strangled yell ripping from his throat as he charged unabashedly at Rey, intent on killing the young woman. With quick thinking and dexterous footing, Rey slid beneath the monster's arm and dragged her lightsaber up the length of her adversary's back. A shout of anguish and a hard thud resonated through the air as Kylo Ren's disabled body fell to the forest floor, red stark against the torn black fabric of his clothing and the crisp leaves beneath him.
The weakened man struggled to roll himself to his back just in time to see Rey advance forward, her eyes trained on Kylo Ren's lightsaber than had fallen at the monster's feet.
The scavenger reached out and grasped the weapon, feeling the hefty weight of it in her hands. Rey pocketed her own lightsaber in her belt and lifted Kylo Ren's lightsaber over her head. With a long drawn out exhale, Rey ignited the deadly weapon within her fingers.
The harsh, crackling sound ripped through the air and reached Kylo Ren's ears with urgency, jolting him to stare up at the woman standing before him. His face held a mixture of anger, fear, and an emotion that Rey could not distinguish.
Rey met his eyes in a deadlocked stare as she glowered down at him, sizing up the man who had killed millions, murdered his father, and had injured her dearest friend. She kept staring into his eyes until she came to recognize the emotion that intermingled with those of hate: it was sorrow. The very same sorrow that had damned her into feeling sorry for the broken man before her.
She was frozen to the spot. Her blood ran cold and her heart ached to just both end Kylo Ren's life and save it at the very same time.
Rey had prepared herself for this very moment for months. Every piece of Luke Skywalker's training had lead up to this, but her body shook from the moment she ignited her lightsaber over the injured monster. The scavenger let the lightsaber slip from her fingers and drop to the floor, the weapon deactivating on the hard impact.
'What am I doing...' she thought to herself.
She could not kill Kylo Ren.