It's dusk on Arkanis, the end of one of the rare days of sunshine on the hilly planet, and the dying light of the sun leaving shadows at Rey's feet. Boots fall quickly around her, pounding up dust as the first squadron of ground troops makes its way through the forest. They landed in a clearing far enough away from Scaparus port to avoid a major disturbance, a little more than a klick away from the old Arkanis Academy.
General Hux had rebuilt his father's academy from the ground up, scrapped Project Harvester, and created a training program for officers and 'troopers alike which helped to turn the First Order into the fierce military machine it is. Rey can't help but wonder how many of the First Order's most prized fighters were never given the chance to know their families, like Finn and herself. Little children, screaming, taken from their parents, siblings, and homes. Raised to do one thing: kill, or be killed.
A light rain starts to come down while heavy clouds roll in, and soon the pounding of their boots is replaced by an obnoxious squelching in the mud as they move onward and upward. Rey feels a chill run through her, which can't possibly just be from the cool rain falling in sheets down on her arms. No, the goosebumps are there because she can already see the ghosts, of every indoctrinated 'trooper she's ordered to slaughter, and the thought nearly makes her turn back to the ship at that very second.
But just ahead is the academy, caged in between cliffs, and there's no turning back on her duty.
She jogs up to the front lines to fall in step with Luke, who holds his hand up behind him to halt their advance.
"We need a body count. Leia said that this sector is specifically for officers so we should be up against a few hundred, possibly some extra Stormtroopers. But something feels off. Do you feel it?"
He turns to Rey as she closes her eyes, centering herself in the focusing power of the pelt, and lets her consciousness travel. She licks around the corners of the building, reaching out to brush gently against ten Force signatures, twenty, a hundred. More and more tiny voices chattering at the back of Rey's mind, and for a moment she has a hard time keeping track of them all.
Everything is normal, as he said. A gaggle of 'troopers marching in sync in a cavernously large training room, hundreds of training officers milling about, attending to their separate tasks. Normal.
"I don't feel-" But then she feels it, like a match has been lit against her and she jumps. The feeling comes in strong, like it may singe her if she loiters too close, but it only makes her more determined. She sees through flashes, looming figures ghosting through the halls like shadows, harsh masks which seems to stare through her, until one actually does. It turns, head cocked to the side as if it's witnessing some sort of amusing spectacle instead of being watched.
And suddenly Rey feels like she's being cornered, as the unrelenting gaze seems to become more intense, and Rey pulls back from that place so quickly that she feels like she has whiplash.
"They're here. The Knights of Ren," she says as her throat catches, and Luke puts his hand on her shoulder.
"That pelt makes you stronger than you think. I only saw glimpses," he tells her, staring her in a look of disbelief which almost unnerves her.
"They know we're here, Luke," she says frantically, and the calm on her Master's face only serves to make her more nervous. He can't possibly understand the urgency of the situation. "One of them saw me, looked right through me, like it was nothing. They're coming for us now, I can feel it."
"Then we'll just have to find them first." There's a steely look in Luke's eye, a focus and determination which Rey has rarely seen him show. It's like he's awoken, once again the young man who took on the terrors of the Empire on his own, face to face.
He pulls his comlink out of his robes and clicks it on. "Call in the air strike," he orders, and strides over to the squadron leader to give her their orders.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rey catches a lone Stormtrooper turn the corner to the front of the building. At the sight of the ground troops he jumps back in surprise, quickly and shakily pulling his blaster up.
"Watch out!" Rey shouts as the first blaster shots streak toward them, but it's too late. The 'trooper shouts and presses a button on his comlink, and in an instant the imposing sound of an alarm is resounding throughout the facility. The ground troops spring to action and the 'trooper is blown backward by a blaster shot to the stomach.
The doors burst open and suddenly a sea of 'troopers flood out, stray blaster fire bouncing back and forth between the two armies. A ground fighter crumples to the ground beside Rey and she's immediately startled into action. She hears the roar of Resistance X-Wings overhead as the plasma blade of her lightsaber springs to life. Luke is beside her, his own green lightsaber in hand, and he swings around her in a swooping arc to swat a blaster shot away.
"There weren't supposed to be this many of them!" Rey shouts to Luke as she drives her lightsaber hard through the torso of an unsuspecting 'trooper.
"They must have known about the attack!" This much is clear to Rey as a TIE-Interceptor flies by, tailing an X-Wing that broke off from the pack. In three shots the ship is going down, spiralling through the air until it crashes into the facility. That's another man down, and another step farther away from how she had expected this mission to go.
But she's been distracted for far too long, and it's only through the pelt that she feels the advancing Knights of Ren, stalking through the halls toward the fight. With the Knights in the battle, there is very little chance that they'll be able to come out without devastating losses. She may be able to take them on with Luke at her side, but there is still one uncontrollable variable.
She feels him smash into her consciousness with all the force of a Corellian freighter, the weight of it making her stagger, crash, and fall. She knows his presence at the moment he makes contact, and she spits his name as if it is filth. Kylo Ren . Killer. Monster. Traitor.
It's her own magnetic rage that draws her toward him. She tugs at the string that leads to him and follows it, straying from Luke and the heat of the battle around her. She follows it into the echoing halls of the facility, lined with sterile white walls.
In an instant he's there, a giant, looming wall of a man, so close she swears she can almost feel his heart thud against his chest. But before she can launch herself into him saber first, a flash of blinding white light blocks her eyes and it feels like she's been hit by a speeder. Her lightsaber flies from her grasp as her pelt is torn from her body, and then it all turns black.
It shocks Kylo Ren, to say the least, that the Resistance could possibly be foolish enough to send their two most powerful warriors into an unwinnable fight. But seeing her here, the consciousness knocked from her body by the sheer force of the blast, she looks less like a fighter and more like the lonely girl he saw under the hardened layers of her mind. He summons her weapon to his hand as it soars from hers, and catches it with ease, looking down at the helpless girl below him. A gash is open on the side of her head and he fights the urge to help her up. To do so would be an act of weakness, and Kylo Ren is not weak. Not in front of his Knights.
Instead he turns her lightsaber over in his hands and strides past her and the burning rubble of an X-Wing. Beside her lies the pelt, hardly damaged by the blast and looking utterly out of place in the stark whiteness of the facility. He picks it up, and in a wave of recognition squints down at it through his mask. There's a strange energy surrounding it, and the longer he stares, the more curious he gets.
He quickly snaps out of his trance and stuffs it into his robes, the odd protrusion distracting from his menacing image.
"Get the girl," he orders, and walks back into the fray of battle. It is all going just as he had expected when the First Order had been tipped off about the attack. The Resistance no longer has the upper hand in the fight, and their retreat has begun.
Then he sees him. Luke Skywalker, fabled warrior, war hero, leader, and failed uncle. He's hesitant to do anything but deflect blaster shots, a testament to his weakness. His so-called restraint isn't helping him to win this battle. His self control, pride of the Jedi way, is the key to his failure. The thought is almost laughable to Kylo.
Those Resistance fighters who remain scurry back to the transport like trapped animals. Behind him, Rey begins to stir and is dropped to the ground in a heap as the transport lifts off of the ground.
Disoriented, Rey stumbles toward the ascending ship as the Knights watch her struggle. "Luke! Finn! Don't leave me, please! Don't leave me." She shouts until her voice is hoarse and her throat is as scratched up as her scabby knees. She calls out for them, but their names are dust as they crumble from her lips. They are gone, and Rey knows they won't dare come back.
But Rey denies herself tears and pity, dragging herself up and spitting at the ground at her feet.
"My lightsaber," she demands, holding out her palm expectantly. It is a hopeful gesture, one she knows is much too naive to yield any results, but she tries anyway. "So this will be a fair fight."
"There will be no fight. You will come with us peacefully, or you will die." There is no other option, and mercy is rare in the First Order. Rey pulls herself up so she's standing straight, looking him directly in the eyes, despite the mask. It unsettles Kylo that she can stare through him like that, but he does not let it show.
"If I follow you, it will be on my own terms." She huffs, her unwavering stare still trained on him. She's bold in this moment, testing her boundaries, but she knows there will be a limit.
"I admire your spirit, Scavenger. But you have no control over your situation right now. I would suggest you watch what you say; my patience is in short supply."
Rey's thoughts are racing in her mind, weighing the risks. If she goes, there's no telling what they'll do to her or what secrets she may reveal. The fate of the Resistance rests in her hands once again, and she can't imagine betraying her friends. She can't imagine the look on Finn's face if she manages to escape, knowing that she's given the First Order all that it needs to crush the Resistance under its boot. She can't disappoint them. Dying would be so much easier.
But alive, she could be of some help as well. She could gather intel from the inside, do her best to destroy any progress, anything. She would survive despite everything, as she did all of those years alone on Jakku, fighting to keep herself alive. Back then, the thought of her family kept her running. Now, she has a greater reason. She steels herself, and with a tip of her chin, she comes to a decision.
"I'll go, but you must let me train with you. I still need a teacher." Kylo looks her over, young and raging as he once was, and he sees in her an opportunity, someone to be molded and shaped.
"Alright," he says to her, and she walks ahead of him, shoulders back and head held high as the last light of the Arkanis sky fades to black.