Kylo Ren skidded to a halt. His blood drained from his head, all earlier anticipation and excitement had completely left him.
She was gone.
The scavenger's force signature had suddenly dissipated. He closed his eyes and reached desperately back into the force, searching for her, scratching at every surface in his mind.
This can't be happening. Overwhelmed by her spontaneous disappearance, he began thrashing about with his saber, destroying a nearby control panel with large angry strokes. Screams erupted from his throat as his rage burned on in the pit of his stomach.
How could he have lost her? One second she was so close he could taste her, but then she had vanished, leaving him confused. Kylo Ren continued his rampage by dragging his crackling saber across the wall, drawing one big streak of charred metal into it.
"Kylo Ren," A junior officer had called to him the day prior. "General Hux wishes to see you in the control room."
Kylo Ren turned from the troopers he had been instructing. A sigh escaping his lips, filtered through his mask as a deep hiss.
After the defeat of the First Order on Starkiller Base, Hux had blamed Kylo Ren for the loss of the planet. He didn't say it so much in words as in the way he took to ordering Ren around. Calling on him daily to fulfill time-wasting duties such as training the inexperienced troopers in Phasma's absence.
The inane tasks initially proved to allow Ren to recover quickly from the wounds he sustained on Starkiller Base, but as time went on he couldn't help but let his mind wonder to the scavenger who had bested him in a duel. Weeks since their battle the thought of her angered expression slashing at him still made his face sting.
She was so… unpredictable. Entering his mind, escaping from capture, her overwhelming use of the force in the forest, these had all been moments when the scavenger had taken him off-guard. He had assumed she was just a weak girl after easily rendering her unconscious on Takodana, never expecting the strong, force-wielding opponent she would eventually prove herself to be.
"No matter when our next encounter may be, I will hold the upper-hand." He had vowed to himself each time his mind wondered to the girl.
He could not deny the call he felt to her - not only as someone of his kind but also as a strong wielder of the Force. She regularily infiltrated his dreams, not that he minded. Each time he awoke from another teasing dream of facing the scavenger, he would allow his anger to build-up inside, triggering many upon many impromptu training sessions. Little did she know that she had inadvertently provided Kylo Ren with the ultimate power against her - the power to become stronger.
Exhilaration had taken-over Ren after he discovered Hux did not require him for another worthless task, but had called to inform Ren of the capture of the Jakku scavenger near one of their prison bases. In addition, Snoke had ordered that Kylo Ren finally prove he could defeat the force-wielding novice and be sent there at once.
He had felt practically giddy until on arrival he had discovered his prized prisoner had escaped, expelling all the excitement which had built-up inside of him.
Kylo Ren slowly dislodged his lightsaber from the wall. With heavy pants he leaned over, trying to regain his breath. Between ragged breaths he called out to her again through the force.
"Where are you scavenger?" But there was no response. He stood up straight again and took in his surroundings, he had been heading toward the south of the fortress. "She couldn't have left the base," he thought with new clarity "there are no exits this way."
Except there was, with the intention of further developing on the south wing there had been a door constructed into a corridor. It had been overlooked as a possible escape as it opened straight over a steep rock face. Any sane person would never try to escape from there.
"Always unpredictable." Ren thought to himself almost in amusement. A half-smile creeped onto his face at the thought of the scavenger girl scaling the heavy descent.
The smile quickly turned into a scowl as Kylo Ren took a look at the destruction he had unleashed. He had just destroyed the only control panel in the area which had access to the corridor in question. He grumbled at his stupidity and turned to the door, igniting his saber. I will catch you scavenger.
What do you think? Kylo Ren sure seems to have been doing a lot of thinking about Rey hey? ;)
Please let me know what you think of the story so far. What do you enjoy? What do you think brought Rey into the clutches of the First Order?
Less flashbacks as the chapters go on I promise! Next chapter: What happened to Rey after her slip on the ice!