Chapter 4
Rey immediately sat up from her cot, trying to regain her breath and she looked at her arms. There were no welts, but she couldn't deny that her skin wasn't darker there, as if touched by the sun.
She didn't know what to think. What it meant that they kept on having these shared dreams? How much Kylo knew about her through her dreams alone? When she had been inside his, she could sense every emotion, she could feel his lust flow through and around her. It had felt like hell. So had it been the same for her? These past two nights, had he been able to feel her every emotion, her every thought? Then did it affect him equally?
Rey couldn't help gripping the covers tightly, trying to relieve the tension that had built up in her muscles. It scared her. It horrified her that he could know what she felt, that he could find out weaknesses not even she knew.
Her hands began to rub unconsciously over her arms and her eyes stung, on the cusp of tears.
She should tell Luke, she knew she should. Perhaps he had some tonic or meditation that would help? But then she knew that she needed to overcome Kylo more than anything and if he thought she could come to him, then there must have been the possibility that he would come to her. If it was Fate like he said, perhaps it was in her favour?
Rey wasn't a fool. She'd lived alone long enough to know that hope was a foolish thing to hedge your bets on, but she couldn't help but glance over the thought. If Kylo left the darkside, if he changed, even if he was gone from the equation, it would be easier.
She glanced at the time, noting that the sun would rise soon. Rey got up from her cot, changing out of her tunic and into her training gear. It was her turn to make breakfast, so she decided to occupy her time with that and pyrokinesis practice.
As she sat by the fire, stirring the grain, she concentrated on the flames, feeling them flicker in the air, trying to make them move by her will alone.
If she could do this much, she would be one step closer to understanding the Force. And it would be one more thing that couldn't be used against her. She could welcome it.
When daylight broke, the shadowed figure of her master ascended the small hill and he sat across from her, smiling lightly.
'Good morning, Rey.'
Rey smiled and offered her master a bowl. 'Good morning.'
'You woke up rather early today.' He commented.
She nodded. 'I couldn't sleep well. I was too preoccupied thinking about all of the training.'
Luke chuckled, though his eyes watched her carefully. Though it had dissipated now, he could sense the remnants of this displaced darkness around her. He took the bowl from Rey's hands and picked up the spoon.
'I realised after your question last night, that much of your training has revolved around the physical. I know I have had you meditating each day, and feeling for the Force, but we should be moving much faster with our limited time. If these were normal circumstances, you wouldn't be learning these things until much later into your training. You are not a youngling anymore.'
The word caused Rey to pause and all she saw was Kylo's face flare into her mind, his mocking tone as he called her a child.
'Though you must treat me like I am one?' Rey questioned reluctantly, her voice tainted with disappointment.
'Of course not.' Luke raised an eyebrow and put his bowl to rest on the rock beside him. He put his hands together, looking steadily at Rey.
Though she was inexperienced, she was not a youngling. His mind confirmed that fact strongly as he remembered the blood of the children that was on his hands. If they had been but older, more trained, more…everything, perhaps more could have been done. It was a foolish thought, one that he had been unable to stop dwelling on these 15 years. He had taught Ben nearly everything he knew, he had been one of the eldest and the strongest. Perhaps Ben's turn to the dark side had been triggered by him? He hadn't taught him enough, quick enough?
Rey saw the change in her master's face and understood where she had gone wrong. She reached for the pail of water and poured out some into a cup before kneeling and handing it to him.
Luke took the drink and looked at Rey carefully. 'You are strong, Rey. Stronger than you think. The trials that I have given you are not simple, not something a child yet alone a Jedi youngling would be able to do within even their first three years. You duelled with the person who was once my apprentice, who now has 15 years of all the training the dark forces could offer him and you are still here. In my eyes, you are the victor.'
'Even though he was injured?' Rey asked.
He smiled lightly, balancing the cup on his knee with the Force. 'Remember I call you Padawan, not Initiate, not Youngling. Even though you have no Lightsaber of your own, even with limited training in the Force, I call you so because it is important. In the past, the name was representative of the trials a Jedi had to go through in their early years, learning to fight, overcoming their fears and failures. You have done all of those things, even without a crystal to your name.'
Rey nodded, unable to hide the smile that held on her lips.
'There is no Jedi Order any longer. It is you and I, and I make the rules now, do not convince yourself that you are in the wrong place, or do not belong here.'
'Yes Master,' Rey said confidently. She put her spoon to her mouth, eating swiftly, happy with the thought that she was on the right path, even if she was worried, even if Luke was worried over her. Kylo would not be able to get in the way of that. She was strong.
Luke nodded, a wry smile on his face. Rey's expression eased him somewhat. She had seemed off-kilter, as if she were lost, but it seemed his words had helped her.
'However to continue what I was saying, I have been training you so far in order to enhance your Control abilties, such as breath control, Force stealth and speed, and so on. These have all been basic, though it is important that we move onto Sense abilities and move through it quickly so we can move onto the most important Alter abilities, which will be the life or death of this plan.'
Rey slowed her eating, her brow furrowing. She had an idea of what Luke meant by Sense abilities. Then she thought of the visions she had seen (the most striking being on Takodana), her heightened senses which she thought were just a part of her since she was young and then what was happening between herself and Kylo.
'I should have said so earlier, Master. There are things that have happened, or I have done, which I have not been forthcoming with, concerning this. You know I used mind persuasion against the guard of my cell and I called the Lightsaber to me, but not the rest.'
Luke nodded, understanding that Rey may not have been immediately willing to enlighten him. The last month had most likely been beyond the scope of her imagination. At least it had been for him when he had been thrown into it at her age.
'I have always found my senses have been heightened since I was young. I could hear the click of a phaser's safety from three hundred feet away, found water where there was thought to be none and felt the thoughts of others. When I was on Takodana, when I first held your Lightsaber, I saw him. I saw him strike down the younglings and then swarm around you, even the rain felt like bullets against my skin. Then I saw my own abandonment.'
Her master looked shocked. His eyes grew hooded as she spoke and even Rey could tell that she had triggered his painful memories.
Rey kept her tone strong and looked squarely at her master. 'And when I was captured, I fought against him. I fought against his intrusion into my mind and saw into his own.'
'You saw into his mind?' Luke questioned.
He hadn't been able to see into Ben's mind. Not when he had taken the lives of the others, not even before that. He had always resisted, something Luke imagined the boy had learnt from Leia.
She nodded.
'What did you see?'
'He is afraid, Master. That he will never be as powerful as Darth Vader.'
Rey considered telling him what this meant to her. That ever since that moment, there had been a semblance of pity lingering in her own mind. Even if it was the tiniest of fractions, there was a small part of her that pitied Kylo Ren- Ben Solo, because his weakness had been something so foolish, short-sighted and even childish.
'And he never will be,' Luke answered, sighing.
He had expected this much from his nephew. From the boy who never rested until he perfected an ability, who lashed out at the others when they made a mistake. Snoke's pull on him must have been overwhelming and truly seductive, his lies poisoning his fragile nephew with ease.
Luke took a sip from his cup and then placed it beside his half-full bowl. 'How much do you know of the Jedi? Of the Force? Of any of this?' he asked.
'Nothing outside of what you and Maz have told me,' Rey answered.
He nodded and his hands met together, he took a breath an then began. 'There was a Jedi legend that the Order maintained. It spoke of a Chosen One, born to set balance to the Force. That One was identified as Anakin Skywalker by many. The Sith held a similar legend and many upheld Darth Vader as their chosen one.'
'And they are the same person,' Rey murmured to herself in understanding.
'What I am saying is that Ben may be strong. He is the grandchild of one who many a Jedi and Sith have believed to be the Chosen One, but he is not and will never be as powerful. The Force nor himself will allow it to pass.'
Rey saw the intensity in Luke's eyes. He knew and he expressed that to Rey. Even if he could only know one thing of the future, of the Force, this would be that one thing. That Kylo Ren – Ben Solo would forever be in the shadow of his grandfather and would hate himself for it.
'As I have said before, one can be seduced, but it is not until they fall when their true allegiance becomes apparent. Where it will be hard to come back. Ben was seduced by his only weakness; a fear that he should never have considered at so young an age or with such a history. I often blame myself for training him away from his family, perhaps their presence would have defended against the seduction.'
'But you are his family too.'
Luke nodded solemnly. 'But I was also his Master, his sole connection to the Force in the early days and then a reminder of a foolish legacy. He would often mumble "I must surpass my uncle" during his meditations. Rey, it does not bode well for anyone to dwell on the skills and abilities of others, only to look at yourself and how you can survive to fight for the light another day. You have merely glimpsed at the dark side of the Force, you have not seen the true power that Ben now wields, or the power of his master. Of that I can merely tell you rather than show you.' He paused and then looked at her with sympathy. 'If you do not witness it in your visions and dreams before then.'
Rey looked into her bowl, feeling the burden on her shoulders. She did not consider it often enough; the true weight that was held on both her own and Luke's shoulders. They were in the dark regarding Kylo's capabilities let alone his mysterious master's. They held the upper-hand; Kylo knew Luke well and he knew what the man could teach Rey.
She could imagine the Force abilities Kylo could manipulate even if he didn't try and succeed to use them against her in her own dreams. If he wasn't still recovering from Starkiller Base now, he must have been under the tutelage of Snoke, solidifying his descent into the dark.
'Are you confident you have retained the capacity to replicate those abilities?' Luke questioned, returning back to the subject.
Rey blinked out of her thoughts and nodded.
Luke finally took his bowl back up, eating in silence for several minutes whilst watching Rey before he stood. 'Your connection with the Force is much stronger than I perceived. I will test you on your Control and Sense abilities, if and when you excel, we will move onto Alter abilities. The abilities that will aid you in combat, aid you in resisting another Force manipulator and ultimately destroying them if need be. You have begun thinking on Pyrokinesis, if you manage to master this without much of my input, then many of the others will come to you with relative ease.'
'I understand Master, thank you.' Rey stood, bowing to her master whilst he disappeared to prepare for the day's instruction.
Rey cleared away everything and took to meditating in front of the fire, willing it to put itself out before her lesson began.
XxX
The day had been intense. Luke had not waited to test her and they began with not only testing her combat abilities with her training sword, but also having to battle the cliff climb this time with a heavier weight and blindfolded; relying on her connection to the Force to succeed. Once she was exhausted a satisfying amount, Luke had her attempt to compel two small birds into flying in various patterns and then predict the actions of an army of insects. All without the key sense of sight.
Luke had brought her, her dinner whilst she lay collapsed on a tuft of grass, the blindfold still across her eyes. He recommended she spend the next three days like this in order to hone her sense skills to further perfection, especially since after those few days, he would allow her to begin to use a rudimentary Lightsaber he had made for blast-deflect and combat training.
Rey could still see in her dreams, however. So when she slept that night, she awoke to a scenery she could not remember. A sea shore covered in large boulders and small cliffs. The tide was out, revealing the rocky terrain of hundreds of rough volcanic rocks.
She sat at the edge of a small outcrop, closing her eyes as the breeze lifted stray strands of hair around her face. The smell of salt was strong, which made her question her location further.
It was peaceful there at the very least. If she could meditate in her dreams, Rey imagined she would improve even quicker than she was currently.
Then she heard rocks stumbling from a nearby cliff and she looked up at its precipice to see Kylo standing atop it, his black hair and cloak lifting in the wind. Rey watched him, thoughts of the morning's conversation with Luke coming back to her swiftly.
He had done so much wrong, yet her heart still twisted, a fraction of her still pitied him. There had been so much potential; he could have been for the light, but he had thrown it all away out of jealousy.
Kylo's expression seemed to sour from his general grimace and Rey understood that as her questions being answered. He could sense her emotions just like she had sensed his. At least in this place, where it fed from her own imagination, thoughts and feelings, he could not taint her with his own.
She turned away then, her eyes looking out at the sea one more time before she stood.
'Will you fight me today?' He called to her.
Rey sighed, her hands in fists. She wasn't quite sure what brought on the darkness. Whether it was a part of her – buried deep within, whether it was an unwelcome intruder or came with Kylo without him realising. Could he even see it beyond his own? Could he even feel it?
It hadn't appeared yet and she didn't know what would trigger its arrival.
She heard the sound of the air splitting at the resistance of a moving object and turned to see Kylo jump from the cliff and then towards her. This time his Lightsaber was attached to his hip, there to remind her that she was not yet trained enough to have her own.
'You must fight me.'
Rey's brow furrowed and she looked him in the eyes. 'So you will know how I have improved?'
He smiled; it strangely crooked and unassuming, charming almost. The expression put Rey off guard and her own darkened. Her simplistic human mind had reared its ugly head; and its nature had been made clear.
'Well it would benefit you also?' He questioned. 'As I am your weakness.'
She narrowed her eyes at him. There it was again, the suggestion that she would be seduced by him, that she would fall because of him – for him.
'You act as if you have seen the future, which I doubt. I will make my own destiny and being seduced by the dark side will not feature in it.'
'You have known of the Force for a fraction of the time I have been its subject and yet you think you know? I felt it the moment I saw into your mind, the moment we locked eyes in my dream, the moment we did in yours. The Force compels you and you are compelled towards me.'
Rey looked away from him, sighing heavily. 'And yet you are not compelled towards me?' She turned back to him. 'If what you say is so and that this is our fate, then are you not drawn to me? Do you not wish to bask in my light? To have it enter your soul as if it were my own hand, holding onto you tightly?'
That changed his tune. His brow immediately furrowed and his hand fell to his Lightsaber hilt.
'I suppose we must fight if I am to prove it to you?' she questioned.
A second passed before she closed the distance to him, swinging first with her fist and then following through with a kick. Her leg struck Kylo across the chest and he stepped back, noting that her strength and skill had definitely increased.
When Rey went to strike him again with a right hook aimed at his jaw, he avoided it and his hand grabbed onto her wrist. She knew how to get out of his grip, however, lifting her wrist above her head and aiming two speedy jabs to his stomach and an elbow against the side of his head.
Kylo created distance between them, chuckling as he looked at her. 'You've become rather scrappy, haven't you?'
Rey did not stop to listen however, running at him, whilst he avoided by stepping out of the way. She got several jabs in and split his lip with a wild elbow, but without a sparring sword or her staff, she was at a loss to what she would do if he removed his Lightsaber from his belt.
'I've been taught by the best,' she huffed, avoiding one of Kylo's fists, but taking another to the stomach.
Without their weapons or use of the Force, the fight continued on, only partially injuring each other until Kylo had, had enough, kicking sand at her face and swinging at her. Rey fell off the outcrop, feeling a sudden stab in her rib as she landed on the beach.
Kylo sat upon the outcrop she had been sitting on, looking down at Rey as she lay wounded in the sand. He smirked. 'What do you even know of my old Master?'
'I imagine much more of his heart than you do,' she responded. Rey tried to get up, but even though this was but a dream, the pain in her rib remained.
'So you know of his weakness? His adoration of disarming rather than striking to kill? Even his beloved Shii-cho couldn't corrupt him, a weakness in anyone wishing to master the ways of the Force. I imagine these 15 years he has just been floundering in his own inability.'
Rey couldn't help laughing and she spat at him. 'You speak of weakness as if I do not know your own, Ben Solo.' She held her side as she sat up. 'You yearn to be like a man who turned to the light in the end and gave it all up out of love for my master?'
Kylo's face went red and he was ready to burst out again, his hand reaching for his Lightsaber and immediately removing it.
'You think my master would leave me in the dark about you? That he wouldn't tell me what you were like just to find where he was at fault? What part of you he had left unguarded for Snoke to get his claws into?'
Rey laughed again, mocking him with everything she could.
'You wanted your grandfather's Lightsaber? The Saber he made when he was of the light, that he used to fight for the light and that was taken from him when he fell? With a crystal within it that was anointed by the pure and love-filled mind of Anakin Skywalker?'
Kylo jumped down then, ready to strike and Rey resisted, her hand held out, stopping the weapon by sheer will, managing to finally wield the Force.
'You were loved Ben Solo and somehow, you still are. Yet you are fighting someone who was even abandoned by the ones she loved and still did not make your mistakes. You are a fool.'
He fought to strike again, but Rey kicked at him, overcoming the pain in her ribs to fight him.
'You know nothing, Youngling,' he screamed at her, thrashing at her despite her avoiding him.
'I am no youngling. I am a padawan and I will win against you Ben Solo.'
He dropped his weapon then, grabbing her roughly by the front of her tunic, breathing heavily into her face. 'The only person winning will be me, when you fall to me, when you can bare it no longer, when you seek my power.'
Rey shook her head, pulling herself from him and stepping back. 'I will never seek such horrible power, I will never disregard life like you.'
'You know the power I speak of is not brought by a Lightsaber. When will you ever listen? My presence here is only a precursor to it. The Force wills you to me, then it will torture you until you are unable to resist the seduction, coming of your own volition.' He stepped towards her, leaning into her face. 'For you to fall into my intoxicating embrace.'
'That will never happen.' Rey replied adamantly. She turned away from him, but could not move away as she felt fire at her wrist, restraining her like a rope. It climbed her arm then and when it reached her shoulder, it licked out at her neck, singeing her flesh. She screamed and it was gone. Kylo was too. He was nowhere in sight on the rocky terrain and the pain in her body diminished to nothing.
Rey was compelled to look into her hands and what looked like flames coloured the skin of her palms a deep red.
She sighed in frustration, clenching her fists together and looked out over the ocean. Her feet automatically went towards it, walking until she was waist deep in it and she closed her eyes, trying to harness the Force and free her mind.
When she woke up, there was a dull ache at her wrists and she was jolted by the continued darkness before realising she still had the blindfold over her eyes. She could feel sunlight stream through a small window in the roof against her cheek and Rey sat up, feeling out for her training gear in silence and putting on her boots.
Luke was already preparing breakfast when she climbed up the hill and she greeted him, thankful that he couldn't see the worry etched in her eyes behind the blindfold.
I chose to say 15 years since Kylo left Luke, as after all my research, the internet seems indecisive. Some places it says 15 years and then alternatively 6 (which seems too short) or even 10. If anyone can enlighten me, it would be great.
