An: First of all I would like to thank all these wonderful people for reviewing: Trying to Put Pen to Paper, chewiewookie, pleiiades and bbjay it really means a lot to me that you take the time to write them! Now about this new chapter, I hope you will enjoy it. It starts of with a small background story on Ylva and will then continue where the main story line left off last time. Let me know what you think in a review and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3: A Life Long Practice

The girl's hand felt cold. She tried to keep it warm under her clothes, but the flimsy farmer's attire was not of any use on this ice planet. She did not know where she was. The long, dark hallways all seemed to look alike and at one point she thought they were going in circles just to scare her. Nevertheless, she was not afraid, not that she would let them know if she was. All her life she had kept her feelings hidden. They had never been allowed and it looked like the same rules applied here. So she kept her face clean, almost not daring to breathe either.

The man in the white suit in front of her turned at another corner. He looked exactly like all the other men she had seen; he looked exactly like the soldiers who had killed everyone at her village. He was a stormtrooper, she knew. There was another one behind her, his footsteps dangerously close to hers. She knew what death was and she felt quite close to it right now. Had it been a mistake to ask the woman in the shiny armour if she could come along? Was she not better off dead?

No, she was not. She knew it. She knew that she was supposed to survive, she had done so all her life. She had survived her father beating her senseless at the age of six and had survived her mother putting cigars out on her arm all her life. She had survived them, and she lived while they were dead. This would not be very different. The stormtroopers did not scare her and they never would. As long as she fought back she would always win. She would always live.

The girl hadn't noticed the stormtrooper in front of her stopping. With a soft thud she bumped into him, feeling the coolness of the armour on her dirty skin. She felt her cheeks go red with something she could not quite place. Was it embarrassment or something more? Nevertheless, she noticed herself shrink a little when the stormtrooper turned around slowly. She could not see his face and thus not read his expression. Would he hit her like her father had done? Or just shoot her like the other people in her small town?

"I- I'm s-sorry, sir," she mumbled, tripping over her words.

"Stand back, girl," he sneered, sounding quite intimidating to the ears of the girl.

She nodded and immediately took a few steps back, trying not to let her eyes bulge out of their sockets while struggling to look everywhere except at his mask. She could hear him grunt something, but she didn't know the word he said. They had stopped in front of a door and the stormtrooper who she had bumped into now faced the door again and pressed some things on a small panel to the left. The door soon opened and revealed an all white chamber with a single, small iron chair in the middle. The girl looked confused for a moment, but the stormtrooper behind her pushed her forward and she stumbled into the room.

She could see other people by the back wall. They did not have the same uniform as the soldiers had, but were dressed in black robes, their faces showing. They were smiling at her and she could feel a shiver run up her spine, yet she wouldn't show them. She would not let them know she was afraid.

"Thank you FT-2334, that will be all," one of the men announced and the stormtrooper whom she had bumped into turned around and left the room with his partner following behind him.

A silence followed and she could feel the eyes of the men almost burning in her skin. The white room made her feel even dirtier than before. Her skin had to be ash brown from all the dust and her hair was full of tangles as she tucked on it ever so slightly.

"Why don't you take a seat?"

The man furthest to the right had spoken. His greasy black hair was combed back and his pale skin looked oily in the harsh lights of the room. He smiled, but it did not comfort the girl, it made her feel sick.

She did not reply and she did not move. One reason was that did she did not like the man and did not want to follow his orders. The other reason was that the chair looked very uncomfortable and she had no intention on turning her back to the only people in the room. She was smarter than that, even for an eight year old.

"What is your name, girl?" Another man spoke. This was the one who had ordered the stormtrooper away and who looked like he was in charge. His voice was dark like his complexion, making him stand out just like her in the all white room.

"Ylva," the girl mumbled, almost involuntarily as if he compelled her to say it.

"That is a pretty name, do you know what it means?"

Ylva shook her head. She felt unable to take her eyes off of the man who had started to walk towards her. Once he stood before her, he knelt down bringing his face below hers so that she had to look down on him. It made her feel empowered.

"It means she-wolf," he whispered. His golden eyes almost lit up while he spook the words and Ylva felt her mouth open, wanting to say something to the strange man. "It is a very powerful name, you should carry it with pride."

She hadn't noticed that the other people in the room had moved towards them. All of a sudden she felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders and it felt as if a spell had been broken. She yelled and tried to get the hands off of her, but they were strong and grabbed her even tighter.

"You are hurting me!" she screamed, but the person behind her did not listen. They dragged her to the chair while the man with the golden eyes watched. Had he bewitched her into trusting him? Did he pull some kind of magic trick on her to make her feel safe?

As soon as she saw his eyes again she felt a calmness flood over her. It felt as if a heavy blanket was laid down upon her and she could feel herself get drowsy. Metal cuffs were clicked over her wrists and ankles; she was not able to move anymore.

"Get the equipment, don't forget the scanner."

Ylva could hear the voice of the man with the greasy hair next to her ear, but was unable to turn her head to look at him. She tried to fight the drowsiness; to get her body out of the feeling of calmness as her head was going on full speed. What was happening to her? What were they going to do?

"No need to worry Ylva, it will all be alright. It is just a small procedure that all children need to go through." The man with the golden eyes appeared before her again. He looked at her and she could not look away from his eyes. Something felt very dangerous, but also very similar about them and it scared her to the point that she could feel tears well up in her eyes.

Suddenly the man grabbed her hand, the hand that had been cold since the woman in the shiny armour had let go of it and had sent her away. The hand that suddenly felt as if it was going to burn under the man's skin. He kept starring at her and she wanted to scream to him to let her go, but she felt powerless. Her whole body seemed to be burning up and the tears she had kept hidden for so long streamed down her dirty cheeks. It was as if he was in her head. A thousand voices exploded and she wanted to yell at them, to leave her alone, but she could not. The only thing she could do was look at the golden eyes of the man. The golden eyes of the wizard.

And just as quickly as the burning feeling had come, it was gone. Her hand still felt warm and Ylva noticed that she could move her head again. She was breathing heavy, feeling the room spin around her and only hearing a few of the words that were being spoken.

"…talk to the Supreme Leader."

"… he will… she has the power."

"Can you feel it?"

"…she has to be taken there…"

What were the men talking about? She could see their heads appearing and disappearing out of her sight, but whenever their mouths moved she did not hear any words. Ylva felt as if she was going to be sick. The room was too bright and she had felt something change inside of her when the wizard man had touched her. She could suddenly feel things: excitement, fear, pride. Those emotions did not belong to her, but then to whom did they when she could so clearly feel them as if they were her own?

A hand suddenly touched her again and the room stopped spinning. It was the wizard and she immediately felt her heart race and her breathing intensify. She wanted to tell him things, to ask him about what he had done to her, but her throat was as dry as a piece of paper.

"We need to insert a tracker chip into your arm, don't worry, it won't hurt."

She could see that he kept his mouth shut, but she could hear the words clearly in her mind. Was she going crazy?

A stinging pain suddenly erupted in Ylva's already scared arm, making her cringe. The man kept looking at her while she could feel the others place something inside her lower arm. She closed her eyes, trying to push all her feelings away from her and not wanting to see what they were doing to her.

It seemed like an hour before the pain stopped. The metal cuffs were taken off and she slowly dared to open her eyes again. The man was still standing next to her, looking at her with a curious smile on his face. Ylva noticed she could move again and saw that her left arm had been bandaged. She assured herself that she could not feel the tracking chip inside her arm or else she was afraid she would faint.

"If you are ready to stand then follow me," the man spoke and Ylva saw another door being opened. Only then she became aware of the noise that filled the room. She could hear voices. Not just two or three, but fifty or so, all softly buzzing away.

Ylva stood up. Her knees were shaking under the sudden weight, but she firmly told herself to stay strong and look confident. She would survive, she had promised herself that. Because if she didn't then no one would care and that scared her more than the whole ordeal that had happened merely an hour ago.

The man turned towards the door and walked slowly in front of her, making sure she could keep up. She entered a new hallway, not as light as the room, but also not as dark as the ones she had walked through with the two soldiers. The voices became louder and after a few seconds she saw where they came from.

A big open space was filled with at least a hundred children, all differing in age and looks. Some were younger than her and others looked to be as old as fifteen. There were more boys than girls, but no one seemed to mind that very much. They were sitting around iron picnic-like tables, eating what seemed to be soup and some bread. They didn't look happy, but they also didn't look sad or angry. In fact, Ylva could not detect any emotions whatsoever. They looked as stoic as she always wanted to look.

"Meet your new family. You will eat, sleep, train and live with these other children for the rest of your training days after which you will fight side by side with them for the First Order."

The man beside Ylva spoke, his voice easily overpowering the hundreds of voices of the children. She looked at him guessingly.

"I don't understand."

"Don't worry, you soon will. Come with me now, you will not join them just yet."

The man started walking again. Ylva felt compelled to stay with the other children, but an unknown power urged her to follow the man, so she did. His boots made a harsh noise and she could feel the eyes of the other children burning in her back. As if she became electrified she felt an emotion hit her. Jealousy. Where had that come from? She did not feel jealous and it scared her to think of any sources where it could have come from. Why could she feel it?

After walking a few minutes in silence and turning numerous corners and even entering an elevator, the man stopped in front of a large metal door.

"Don't speak unless you are being spoken to. Kneel when I kneel and keep your head down. Do you understand?"

Ylva nodded. She tried to rid her head from everything again just like she always did. She could hear the door open with a hiss and a cool flow of air brushed along her sweating face. The steps before her were dark, but the man started walking so she followed him closely.

It was not a corridor that she was walking into. She dared not to look up, but she knew that the room was bigger than any other she had been in before. The cold air calmed her down a bit and the darkness made her eyes rest. The man suddenly stopped in front of her and she immediately halted herself, not wanting to bump into him as she had done with the stormtrooper.

The man fell to his knees and Ylva followed his example. It was silent for a few seconds until a buzzing sound could be heard all around her. A big, but dull light illuminated the stones in front of her and she forgot that she was supposed to look down. She lifted her head and her eyes sat on the largest hologram she had ever seen in her life. A large, bald creature sat in a enormous stone chair in front of them. His looming figure looked dark and dangerous and all of a sudden his eyes met her.

It felt as if a bucket of ice water fell over her. She instantly dropped to the ground in an even lower bow and tried to keep her breathing under control, but she was not prepared for the moment the creature in the hologram spoke.

"I can sense your fear."

His voice made her tremble and she quivered silently. She knew that he was staring at her tiny, fragile figure, lying there on the ground in the hope he wouldn't kill her.

"Why have you brought her forward, Okropir?" the creature spoke, his voice filling the room.

"Forgive me Supreme Leader, but she was brought here by Captain Phasma from the planet Vernet and-"

"I did not ask where she came from," the Supreme Leader sneered while interrupting the man that kneeled beside Ylva. She could feel something small pulsating from him. It was fear.

"I only wanted to explain Supreme Leader," the man spoke, "Phasma had brought her here to be trained as a stormtrooper."

"She is too old."

Ylva trembled.

"Phasma insisted, Supreme Leader, but when I looked at her I saw something in her eyes." Ylva wanted to turn her head. She wanted to look at the man, to see what he was doing, what he was feeling. "And when I touched her I felt something open up inside of her. Supreme Leader, I believe we have a Force sensitive child among us."

A pressing silence fell over the room. Ylva did not know what to do anymore. On one side she wanted to scream, shout, ask questions and on the other she wanted to disappear, to be back on her home planet lying beside her dead parents in the grass.

"I can feel it as well, but she is not strong. The Force within her is weak, barely a glimmer of what it should be."

For the first time Ylva felt something else than fear. She could feel an anger boiling up inside of her, making it's way to her head where it put a pressure on her temples that was almost unbearable. She was many things, but weak was not one of them. No one had the right to call her that, not after everything she had survived. Not after coming here.

"I can feel it, child," a voice spoke inside her head and it almost made her scream. It burned and it tormented her. Why could she hear him there, that creature? "You want to let it out, you want to run. Why don't you?"

Ylva closed her eyes shut. She tried her best to push him out, even if she did not know how. She knelt even deeper, grabbing her head with her hands and wincing in pain. The space around her ceased to exist and she could almost feel his cold hands touching her face.

"You are weak and afraid, you can't run."

"I am not weak!"

Her own voice surprised her. Suddenly she was back in the room. She had stood up and the man beside her looked at her with his eyes wide open, anger, fear and something else smeared across his face. She felt her breathing slow down as she realised what she had just done.

"She is too old to become a stormtrooper, Okropir," the Supreme Leader spoke again.

"Yes, Supreme Leader. I will bring her to the slave quarters."

"No."

Ylva swallowed. She was still standing up while the man with the golden eyes was still kneeling beside her with his head down.

"Let her train with the others, but bring her to the executioner quarters in the evening. She will live with him and learn his craft. I will use her if I find her valuable. You may leave."

"Yes, Supreme Leader. Thank you."

The man rose beside Ylva and grabbed her arm in a painful fist. She wanted to yell, but she felt a calmness come over her once more and the whole room seemed to go dark. As she felt her body fell backwards Ylva could see the hologram disappear and the creature leave with a smile.

Ylva – 19 years

I stood before the door once more. I remembered that as a child I had often found it very large, dark and even dangerous. That feeling hadn't changed.

"You fought well today."

Phasma's voice was as emotionless as always, but I knew that complements from her were rare. I did not smile after hearing her words, but nodded my head in appreciation. She still hadn't put her helmet back on and I was starting to fear that it had something to do with my audience with the Supreme Leader. She was afraid for me.

"I was taught well," I answered, thanking her in my head for all the lessons that she had given me when I was young. 'It was because-"

Phasma interrupted me. She turned her head, almost looking at me in anger. "Do you even know who the woman was you were fighting?"

I raised my eyebrows, surprised that she cared. She hadn't even paid attention to my wounds, but did to this?

"No, I do not," I stated, confused and also a bit irritated. "What does it matter, she is dead."

"It matters because the Supreme Leader chose her to fight you, and you won Ylva. You won."

She turned her whole body towards me. Her armour shone in the light above our heads and I could see my own face reflected in it. My dark features had not changed much, but I had been able to wipe some blood of my face.

"It sounds as if that surprises you," I said, not wanting to sound provoked, but I was not able to control myself. "I am a good fighter you know, even though I am not one of your stormtroopers."

"That has nothing to do with it and you know that," Phasma said, her voice sounding distant once more, "You just need to realise who you killed today. She was not some slave."

"Then who was she?" I implored, feeling a sense of impatience grow inside of me.

"She was one of the Knights of Ren, Ylva. She was one of the Supreme Leader's personal fighters."

I swallowed as the news dawned on me. One of the Knights of Ren. I had never seen them, but there were numerous tales going around about them. They were a group of around eight people, now seven, who were often sent on personal and high-risk missions by Snoke. They almost never failed, seeing as they were skilled warriors. But today I killed one.

The Supreme Leader would want me dead.

"What?" I asked, as that was all I could manage to say.

"Ylva, you-" Phasma began, but her voice was interrupted by the door opening beside us.

The cool air flowed past my hot and flustered face. I could see Phasma's eyes trying to tell me something, but my head was racing. This would be the last time I would see her. Neither of us spoke and I slowly turned towards the dark space beside me.

My footsteps echoed softly and I heard the door close. Was this it then? I had always thought my life would end here, but now that the time had actually arrived I felt my body go cold.

I reached the spot where I had kneeled numerous times before. I got down on one knee and bowed my head in respect and fear of the hologram that was about to appear. The familiar buzzing sound filled the room and after a few seconds I could feel the Supreme Leader watching me.

I did not dare to speak. I had learned that the hard way as a child when I had been thoroughly punished for talking back when no one had asked me a question. I had not been able to walk for a whole week due to the injuries, but it had taught me a valuable lesson. I was not important enough to have an opinion of my own.

"You fought well, child."

His voice was echoing through the whole room even though he did not even raise his voice. I dipped my head even lower in appreciation.

"Thank you, Supreme Leader."

"You killed one of my Knights."

I swallowed. How was I to reply to that? Confirming it would make my death final, but denying it would be crazy. Everyone had seen it. Snoke had sent her out to kill me for my disrespect and she had failed. A Knight of Ren had failed in killing a low executioner who did nothing more than punish slaves and kill for the pleasure of others. She had had a purpose in life. I had not. She was irreplaceable. I was not.

"Do you not agree that that was quite an accomplishment?" He said, his voice almost slithering into my ears once more. I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath.

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

"Good, because I cannot send someone on a mission who does not believe she can accomplish it."

"A-a mission?" I stuttered, stumbling over my words, as I had not done in a long time. I looked up. Our eyes met and I felt the burning sensation go through my head once more. His voice came as expected.

"You are to go to the Mid Rim, find the planet of Takodana and search there for Luke Skywalker."

I gasped, unable to apprehend the information. I placed my hands on the floor, attempting to steady myself as I tried not to fall over.

"He is training a group of Padawans and you will present yourself to him as a student willing to learn the ways of the Force."

"But I am not strong with the Force, Supreme Leader, as you have said yourself. He will not take me as an apprentice." I answered, only barely understandable, as my voice was weak and soft.

"He has a weakness for soft minds like yours. He will train you and you will convince his Padawans to join the First Order. You will show them the Dark Side."

"Is there not another to take on this mission, Supreme Leader? Someone who is more-"

"Are you refusing my orders, child?"

A searing pain shot through my body. I clenched my teeth in order to keep my screams from coming out. I could see black spots flickering before my eyes and I gasped for fresh air. As sudden as the pain had come it disappeared. I shook all over as I tried to steady myself and I softly whispered, "No, Supreme Leader."

"Good, then go. Commander Hux will send someone with you to help you with anything you might need."

I tried to nod, but it felt more like my neck was snapping.

"Do not disappoint me."

The buzzing sound disappeared and I felt my body collapse to the ground. The fight, his voice, the news and the pain were too much. I felt the cold ground touch my cheek and I laid still until I heard the door open once more.

Footsteps approached me and I hoped it was just a stormtrooper and not Phasma. She could not see me like this. I tried to get up, but my body did not listen to my commands. A figure soon loomed over me and in the light of the hallway I could see Oph's face hovering above mine.

"Are you ready to go, Padawan?"

AN: Ahhh! I'm so excited to read your reactions! I hope you liked the chapter! It featured a big part of some background information on Ylva, but also the start of the actual mission. I'm so excited and who knows, maybe the next chapter will introduce someone special…
Let me know all your thoughts in a review, even if it is just a single word! And once again, if you see any grammar / spelling mistakes, please do let me know.

Love,
Jade