The air of Kylo Ren's command shuttle is filtered and stale compared to the fresh crispness of Arkanis, and Rey is reminded of just how trapped she is. There is no rain in space, no warmth of the sun against her skin. Just a cold, inhospitable vacuum, and Rey feels it.
And yet, she feels strangely calmed as two Stormtroopers slide uncomfortably into the two spots next to her. She knows it won't stay this way for long.
Kylo is less calm. He prowls the floor of the shuttle, casting constant glances in her direction, as if the moment he turns his head even the slightest bit away she'll disappear in a column of smoke. But she's still there, wearing the same infuriating expression, as if she's sizing him up.
"You can stop staring me down, thank you very much." It catches Kylo off guard, as if he never really expected her to bother speaking to him.
"You speak as if I can trust you not to run off, Scavenger."
Her nose scrunches up at the name, her aversion to the moniker clear in her eyes. "I have a name, you know, and I'm sure you've wasted no time rooting around in my head to find it," she snarls. She's right, of course, but he can't help but feel like her name is not his to speak. But it's what she wants. It is what Rey wants, and if there's anything that Kylo Ren understands, it is the importance of a person's name.
"Alright, Rey," he says, and reaches into his robes to pull out the pelt. He feels how its energy gathers up around her like a cloak, and his curiosity about the object grows. "Why don't you tell me just what this is, and where you found it."
There's no use in lying to the man before her, who could no doubt pick through her brain without even lifting a finger. Rey holds her tongue, biting back a snappy remark.
"It's a selkie pelt. I found it when I was training with your uncle."
"He is no uncle of mine, and you would do well to stop addressing him as such. I am not known for my patience, I warn you, Rey." There's a sneer to his voice as she feels the Force around him crackle with a menacing edge. "I know there's more to this pelt than you've told me, and I'm sure the Supreme Leader will not be happy to hear that you've been withholding any information from me."
"If your so-called Supreme Leader is so knowledgeable and great, surely he can learn about the pelt without my help."
The girl is testing her boundaries, Kylo thinks, and for a moment he almost feels regretful. She should never have come to Arkanis, for now she is trapped, stuck between the worlds of light and dark without a lifeline. He wants to tell her of Snoke's ways, of the many days he has spent meditating, no food and no water, with that ghostly whisper brushing the back of his mind like the poisoned tip of a needle. But there are Knights here, unwanted eyes and ears and minds, and Kylo knows he must watch his words.
"I warn you not to question the Supreme Leader's actions. You will be meeting him soon, and he is not prone to mercy."
"I hadn't expected him to be merciful," she says, and then she's back to silence once again, staring out to the blackness of space in search of some solace and guidance.
That will have to be good enough, Kylo tells himself. He can help her no more. He can only hope that Rey will be wise enough to hold her tongue and build a wall around her thoughts when her time comes to meet Snoke. But he glances in her direction once again and for a moment he sees a glimpse of raw panic beyond her hardened expression, and he knows that this will not be easy for either of them.
He's seen flashes of this panic before, in fever dreams and fading memories of a life that is not his own. In her eyes he finds the little girl with the broken jars scattered about her, a cold terror washing over her. But she is stronger now, with better control over her power and her mind. Snoke is powerful enough to try to manipulate her, but Kylo has seen her steely determination and her ability to resist first hand.
She is stronger than even she knows, and that will have to be enough.
There's a bitter, sulfuric taste to the air when the command shuttle touches down on the ground. With a harsh shove, Rey stumbles onto the gravelly earth. A fog covers the rocky surface, and as she's pushed further into the denseness of it, she feels the smog twist in her lungs. They walk for what seems like aimless hours, until finally they reach a massive archway leading into a cave.
The fog thins as they descend into the cave, and Rey feels the tightness in her throat start to loosen. Still, there is something about this place that makes the hairs stand up on her arms, so she continues along, hyper aware of every little splash of water onto stone and every echo of movement.
The silence around her makes Rey suddenly uneasy, and she looks around to find the back of Ren's helmeted head. "Where are you taking me?"
"To the Supreme Leader." He doesn't turn toward her or look back, but Rey can sense the slight tremor of fear underlying his tone. So, even the great and terrible Kylo Ren is scared of something, or someone. Rey should be afraid, terrified in fact, but she can't even possibly imagine what type of horrible creature would lurk in these eerie caves. She can't even picture Snoke in her mind, and maybe it is better that way, to meet him bold and unafraid.
It is foolish to show your strength around the Supreme Leader . A thought, familiar, but hardly her own. Maybe it's Ren again, rooting around in her mind where he has no business being. But Kylo is still facing front, leading the way and hardly paying her any mind. She brushes the thought away.
After some time, they turn a corner into a corridor that looks newly made. The crisp white lights lining the hall are blinding in comparison to the dark cover of the cave, and Rey catches herself squinting as they finally reach the blast doors leading to Snoke's dwelling.
"Leave us," Kylo Ren orders in a low, rumbling voice. The troopers scatter, tailing the Knights into another sector of the base. Kylo turns to Rey, and removes his helmet with a hiss. Her eyes trace the ruined flesh that runs from his brow to his clenched jaw, and it jolts her to see the mark she left on him.
He tears his head away from her gaze when it becomes too much. "Listen, and listen well. Do not speak to the Supreme Leader unless he addresses you directly, if you value your life. And keep your mind on guard."
Rey barely has time to respond to him when the blast doors slide open to reveal a cavernous chamber, larger than the cave they came from, by far. Ahead was a pathway, lined with jagged rocks and statues of humans and other creatures, locked in what seems like a heated battle. Rey can hardly rip her gaze away from the sight until it comes to rest on a large throne.
"Kylo Ren," a voice demands, and both heads snap up to the large creature seated above them. His skin is a stale gray, as if it hasn't seen the light of day in decades, and his face is mangled with twisted scars. He stands, and Rey feels the urge to scamper away from the creature, seven feet of gruesome glory.
"And the Scavenger?" His face churns into a smile, an action almost completely foreign to his face. It does not suit his features, and leaves Rey with a pit in her stomach.
"My name is Rey," she stammers against her better judgement, and Snoke's eyes narrow, causing a hot panic to rise up in her. Kylo steps in front of her quickly, shielding her from his wrath. Snoke relaxes back down into his seat, his eyes passing between the two Force users with interest.
"As you asked, Master, I have brought her to you. And I have found her with this pelt. It has a strong aura surrounding it, and I believe it may be useful to you."
"Very good, Kylo Ren. You have started to regain my trust. You may give the pelt to me, and then you will take the girl to train." Kylo bows his head toward Snoke, averting his gaze.
"As you wish, Master." Kylo turns on his heel, and as Rey turns to follow him, she's sure she feels Snoke's gaze burning a hole into the back of her head.
"I should have expected that you'd fight like a scrappy little scavenger." He threads his saber through his fingers like it weighs nothing, spinning it once, twice, three times. Fighting seems like just a game to Kylo Ren, a petty amusement hardly worth his time. But he knows better than to underestimate her.
Rey is not afraid to scrape, scratch, elbow, and kick her way through a fight, and years fending off unwelcome strangers on Jakku has trained her to watch the corners of her eyes at all time. She had chosen a staff to fight with this time around, and her split lips curl into a familiar smile. Her pike served her well for many years, so much so that it felt like another arm or leg to Rey, an extension of herself.
Still, she missed her lightsaber, her real one. It seemed to fit her like it was a part of her, and without it, Rey is at a loss. But here is Kylo Ren, looming over her and still managing to hold his imposing image despite the absence of his real lightsaber. She refuses to be bested by him, especially when he stands before her, bearing the scar that she dealt to him in a harsh slash to the face. She is stronger than that.
"I learned to survive the best way I could. But look at you, just an overgrown child who is slowly eating away at himself. Can you say the same?"
She's sees the flash of darkness pass over his eyes as he steps toward her, boots stomping the matted floors with a loud thump. His grip on his weapon is tight, gloved fingers clenching over and over.
"You never know when to hold your tongue, do you, Rey?" he asks, and with another twirl of the hilt of his saber he slashes hard down toward her head. She ducks, and staggers away from the blow just in time to flick her leg out toward him and sweep him off of his feet. As he staggers she ignites her saber staff and cuts down toward his shoulder.
Ren is alert, and rolls away faster than Rey can anticipate. She barely has time to dart away from his next strike, as the heat of his saber singes the hairs raised on her arms. She needs a way to break his attack, but where is he weak? His ribs? No, those are well covered, his wrapped arms tucked in to defend himself from serious injury. When he swings up his saber he leaves his stomach open for a split second, if she could just-
There's a locking sensation in her elbows and knees, and her head feels about ready to burst as she struggles desperately to free herself from his hold in the Force. He reaches his hand out toward her calmly and the staff wrestles itself from her grip and lands right at Kylo Ren's feet. She suck in a breath as she takes a heavy step toward it and presses his weight down onto the weapon. She closes her eyes, unwilling to watch him crush it under his boots as he quietly steps away, kicking the pike back to her.
The feeling rushes back into her body as she feels him drop his hold on her, and she scrambles toward her weapon, pushing herself back onto her feet. But Kylo has already turned his back on her, reaching for his cowl from the corner of the room. It soars into his grasp, and he pulls it over his head without once turning to look at Rey. The helmet comes next, and at a closer glance Rey can tell that it is not the same one that was left on Starkiller. No, this one is newer, fewer dents in the side and not nearly as many scratches etched into its cold surface.
The helmet slides on with a mechanical hiss and Rey finds herself frantic to say something as he turns to walk away from her, waving over the Stormtroopers who are waiting for her outside the door. He seems to hear her panic and he halts abruptly as the doors slide open.
He turns back toward her, staring her down through the scrutinizing glare of his mask.
"Lesson number one. Stay alert. Rely not only on your eyes and ears, but on the Force. You think far too loudly for your own good, and you're not using the Force to your advantage as you should be."
"You said we would be sparring, not working with the Force," she reminds him, but somehow she knows this doesn't matter.
"Not every fight is fair, and you won't always know what to expect. Be prepared for everything," he says, and with a flick of his head toward the 'troopers, they jog to Rey's side, blasters at the ready. "Return your weapon to the rack. You will meet me back here in exactly one hour to meditate, and then you'll be fed. That will be all."
He strides away with a wide gait, each step filled with purpose and power. She's sure he's completely finished with her, but Rey swears she feels something at the back of her mind, nudging at the walls of her thoughts.
She pulls at the thread that leads back to the source of the sensation, but it is only a faint little message, and ghostly whisper unheard by even the most well-trained minds. She brushes against it and it glows at her presence, as if it were made specially for her.
She fights like a survivor, it says, and Rey can't help but shake her head to try to rid herself of the admiration attached to such a statement. Kylo Ren is a monster, nothing more than an abomination. He is nothing to Rey, but as she attempts to wipe her mind of the remnants of his thoughts, Rey can't help but feel like she's only scratched the surface with him.