Chapter 5
The day of training passed too quickly for Rey, even whilst she was blinded. She could feel Kylo's emotions at the edge of her mind again, so she concentrated on her tasks with every muscle and every molecule in her. Luke seemed happy by her improvements and she had even managed to put out a fire so that eased her mind at the very least. The faster she improved, the sooner she could gain control over the connection; the sooner she could be rid of Kylo's intrusion and the call of the dark.
Rey cleared away the remains of their dinner, finding that her loss of sense no longer hindered her. Luke had decided to meditate for the rest of the evening, leaving Rey with her own thoughts. She sat by the dying fire, dressing her aching limbs and reaching out with the Force again, seeing how far she could go. During one meditation session earlier on in the day, she thought she'd felt Finn. She couldn't be sure, but the thought of it excited her.
When she had wrapped up the parts of her that hurt the most, she went back to practicing Pyrokinesis. After several minutes, she had been able to increase the fire's strength and then put it out, feeling its changing states through the Force. She smiled to herself and decided to finish off the evening with stretches and core training.
Luke had begun to teach her the acrobatic steps to Form IV, deciding that if her body were accustomed to the acrobatics required in the form, she would be able to pick it up quicker. Slipping into destroyed battleships for most of her life had been a benefit during her training so far, as was strong and agile from having to get out of tight situations and spaces carrying heavy space junk.
Rey was eager to learn the new form, as Luke had informed her it was best against a single opponent, which she supposed would be what she needed in the end. Even though she had not been able to use Form I properly against Kylo, she had the feeling he was right and that it was suitable for weaker opponents, those who couldn't use a Lightsaber or the Force. She imagined she would feel more comfortable once she had been trained up to at least Form IV. At least then she could defend herself against most with a defined skillset. She also imagined that her lessons would pick up pace from there, considering that Luke said he would teach her Form III once she had memorised the skills needed in Form II. Rey still maintained that her skill with a Lightsaber or at the very least a sparing sword, was greater than her skill with the Force.
She leant forward on one foot, pulling her other leg behind her until it bent above her head. Holding that pose for several seconds, she leaned into it, feeling the stretch in her back, leg and hips. Though her muscles were sore, the movements eased the ache somewhat and she found that the extra flexibility had improved her blast-deflect training. Luke had warned her that, that part of her training would grow more intense as they moved to more powerful weaponry in preparation for Form III.
Once she had finished moving through her stretches, Rey began to make her way back to her quarters, trying not to think too much about her dreams. If she did not think about it, perhaps she could avoid meeting Kylo?
As she undressed she briefly considered what she would think if he wasn't there and then she shook the notion from her mind, not liking that she'd thought of it at all.
Rey laid in her cot, knowing that she didn't want to dream and him be there, but also knowing that she had to sleep or else it would be a detriment to her training. She sighed, closing her eyes behind her blindfold and allowed sleep and darkness to take her.
And darkness it was.
Rey couldn't tell where she was. She thought she heard running water, but then the ground felt like soil or at least she felt strands of earth and grass slipping between hard rock.
As she knelt on the floor and her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, she noted that there were walls. She must have been inside somewhere. Then she came to the realisation that this wasn't her. It wasn't her mind that she was inside, but Kylo's again. She couldn't even be sure whether he was here too or if he knew she was there, but she knew she couldn't have imagined a place like this.
Holding out her hands, her palms facing upwards, she closed her eyes and willed for a flame. When she felt a spark, she willed it to grow. There was warmth then and she opened her eyes to see a bright flame illuminating the room. It was horrible. There were chains and torture devices against the wall, seeming to drip torn flesh and what looked like blood stains against the harsh grey stone walls. Old bones were strewn about, bent and broken as if ripped from the victim and the large wooden door in front of her was marred with deep, four-lined engravings, the dark wood not letting in any light at all.
Rey stood, approaching the door. Moving the flames to one hand, she willed the door to open with the other. It creaked ajar and she stepped through into the dimly lit hallway. She could see Kylo's darkness swirling in the corners, but it did not come for her. It seemed there was only one kind of darkness that wanted to see her submit.
As she made her way down the hallway, she heard a dull moaning and her mind immediately flashed back to the first time. The first time she had fallen into Kylo's dream and had seen him…in the act. She had not been able to forget the feeling. His feelings of lust and desire and her own temptation. It had heavily affected her at the time, but Rey had not considered that it could have had a long-lasting effect on her.
She felt nothing of the sort now, though. No heated lust, painful in its execution, yearning for blood to spill. It had been unexpected, as a part of her thought Kylo to be cold, asexual, unable to bend to human desire and yearning, but she had been wrong.
Rey continued, her fingers sliding against the damp stone walls, feeling out for him, out for something. She stopped at a metal door with bars across it and she could hear shallow breathing behind it. She could sense him then, a rabid energy about him, as if he had been left alone to simper in insanity. Then there was pain.
Carefully she opened the door's large latch and pulled on it, it taking all her strength to swing it open and Kylo was sprawled on the floor, his black clothing ripped and as she held the flame in front of her, she could see darker patches on his clothes and she guessed it was blood.
He heard as she stepped into the room and his head flicked to her, his lip split and what looked like a broken nose and black eye. He looked terrible. Then she could see his wrists were shackled to the wall just above his head. It seemed as if he straightened up as she continued in and he watched her, not saying anything. She could feel distrust floating from him and she wondered whether he thought she wasn't real.
Rey stopped a few paces away from him and knelt, placing the flames in her hands onto the floor, willing them to stay alight, to grow big enough to illuminate the room.
When she looked at Kylo, the flames flickered, distorting the shadows of his sour expression.
'So you've wandered into my dream again?' he questioned, his mouth twisting into a scowl. His brow seemed to relax, but Rey could still sense his distrust.
She nodded and her hands met, resting against her thighs as she knelt in front of him. 'Even though I prefer the scenery of my own, you being chained to a wall in a cell is a vast improvement.'
Kylo did not reply, he only held her gaze.
'Are you not going to get out and fight me?' she questioned.
He said nothing again, but the tightening in his jaw was clear. He could not get out. This was a self-made prison and she wondered what he had sentenced himself for.
His eyes glanced at the fire Rey had created and there was a shadow of worry in his brow and in the air, before it turned to maintained anger. His arms rattled against the chains slightly, but he made no efforts to free himself. It was as if he already knew his fate and had accepted it.
'It's interesting,' Rey murmured. 'That you are so tortured in your dreams. Your mind is a many roomed house and you are stuck in one room one day and then another the next. I imagine that first time I saw you, that room was better than this. This room seems to be your torment. You can't even muster the strength to fight me, to use the Force.' Rey looked into his face and sighed. 'You are so pitiful, Ben Solo. You left the light to feel like this? It's almost as if this room represents your guilt.'
'I have no guilt,' he hissed.
Rey shook her head. 'It does you no good to lie to yourself.'
'Perhaps you should take your own advice?' he questioned. His tongue licked out at the blood dripping from the cut in his lip and Rey watched him, suddenly his gaze making her uncomfortable. 'That you won't fall for me.'
She smiled then. 'Do you think this place compels me? I can see inside your mind, I know what you feel. You are unsure what you're saying will even come to pass.'
'I know it so,' he growled.
Rey couldn't feel any ounce of fear, especially because of Kylo's chained arms.
'Perhaps you are wrong and you will fall to me?'
'It is more likely that we will fall together than for that to happen.'
There was silence between them. Kylo realised the implication of his words; that he could fall to her, fall for her, but it would be both of their undoing. Rey felt her stomach twist at the idea of that happening, then she was confused as she concluded it was nonsensical. If he fell, she could not possibly fall with him. He would be rising to the light, would he not? There was no other alternative.
'I will win this fight Ben Solo. Perhaps if you are lucky and meditate well enough, a view into the future would help soften the wound of that thought, but I'm sure of it.'
'And why do you think that?' His teeth were gritted together and his eyes flitted at her as if he were assessing her, looking beyond her skills to something else, to something deeper. He was trying to harness the Force, to look into her mind, but it was a weak attempt and it failed.
Rey looked around the cell and then back to Kylo. 'Does this not answer that question for you? You are unstable, you need balance.'
He laughed then, boisterous and loud, the chains rattling with every heave of chortles. 'You think repeating the nonsense that Luke Skywalker prattles off will help you? You are foolish to think that.'
'No, Ben Solo. You might not like to hear it, but Master Luke knows you. He knows the Force better than you and he has fought the dark before.'
'Balance is a foolish means of control, which is why my uncle remains a weak Jedi. You force your power into a box and that will allow you to win? Having access to every emotion, every wild thought leads to power at its most ferocious.' He responded. He smiled wide, his lip cracking more.
Rey considered him for a moment and then she sat back, folding her legs underneath her. 'Like a caged beast? Trained to his master's will, but knowing his master is the only one who will let him out and by sheer foolish nature, does not let his loneliness and abuse out on his master, but on his master's enemies.'
Kylo did not like her response and he glared at her, his arms leaning forward, not fighting against the chains, but seeming like they wanted to break free.
'Don't you remember hearing? I already killed my master.' Kylo snapped, his jaw tight.
Rey nodded, considering. 'I suppose you did, or at least tried to.' She held his gaze and she could feel the hunger in him, to lash out at her. He was frustrated. 'Have you forgotten that death is not the end? Everything lives on through the Force and within our hearts. You may have wounded his heart, but you will feel the weight of those deaths eventually, and it will tear you apart.'
'Do you suddenly think you know anything about the Force?' He responded, a wicked laugh on his lips despite the look of utter destruction on his face.
She smiled then, her hand hovering over the fire beside her. 'I feel it, like you likely felt it when you were young, when you had the world ahead of you.'
'You think you have the world ahead of you?' he questioned, mocking in his tone.
Rey nodded. 'I've found my path, one which will pacify you and your master, one where I'll find the answers to my questions, one where I'll feel I am doing the right thing.'
He snorted then and Rey narrowed her eyes. Kylo licked at his lip again and seemed to look at her with pity. 'I should have expected such a short-sighted view of the world from you. Your innocence is palpable, even if you try and disguise it with this faux wisdom and resistance. It would be easier if you came to me sooner than later and you could dream bigger, be in control of your own reality and not be trapped in the memory of a weeping girl as she is wrenched from the ones she knows.'
Rey couldn't help reacting. She tried to restrain her feelings; of anger, frustration, loneliness and an unwelcome feeling of knowing there was something right about his words. Her brow twitched and she felt her lip move on its own accord, so she looked to the ground, not knowing what to say.
Kylo saw it on her face even if he couldn't feel it in her mind. She was listening to him and taking his words in.
'It is not a crime to set your sights higher. If you still think this is simply a fight between darkness and light, you are mistaken. It is a fight in power and control, things I know you want, but things that haven't been in your reach until now.'
His voice had seemed to soften and when Rey looked back up at him, he had that expression on again; the one she had seen on his ship after he had kidnapped her from Takodana. This time she couldn't see her own pitiful reflection in his eyes, but she could feel his gaze cut at her. It was disarming and she felt a haunting sincerity in the air.
'All you have to do is come to me and I will give you everything you want, everything you desire.'
She held his gaze in silence for several moments before she shook all her thoughts away and moved onto her knees again. He was trying to seduce her; taking advantage of her connection to his emotions and making her feel as if he was right. She knew the intent in his word choice, in the emotions he was giving off.
'Should you not sort out your own issues first?' she questioned. 'Or do you wish to be stuck in this place forever? Imprisoned in your own mind, unable to progress anymore?'
He grit his teeth together, seeming to let go of his advances at her. 'I am on the cusp of achieving my potential, going beyond anything this universe has ever seen.'
'You will never achieve your potential if your emotions are never balanced.' Rey responded, shaking her head solemnly. She found herself edging closer to Kylo until she knelt directly in front of him. 'You transfer your anger and hatred on me, but I can take it because I am not like you.' Rey reached her hand out, placing it against his cheek, her thumb grazing the bruising beneath his eye. 'You are filled with it and it's unnatural. This was never meant to be your path and I can feel it, that the light wants to be set free.'
Kylo's expression did not change and Rey moved her hand away quickly as she stood. She could feel her heart beating quickly in her chest, realising that she hadn't been that close to him before. She had forgotten how dangerous he was. Touching his cheek had been a foolish action.
'If you remain here in my dreams, you are more likely to fall than I.'
His voice was different. Rey looked at him again and his expression had flattened to passivity, but she merely shook her head. She reached for the chains holding him and she broke them with ease, the metal crumbling between her fingers.
He did not get up, however. Kylo stayed in his kneeling position, looking up at her with great confusion. Then he could feel it, a strange warmth interrupting the stagnant metallic environment around them and it chased away some of the darkness.
He shook his head, willing it away to bring back the cold. When he looked at her, she seemed brighter against the darkness of the cell. For a second he feared that this would be harder than he thought. That he could not fulfil his master's requests, that she was growing stronger every day. He was unable to think further as she disappeared, leaving the faintest of auras.
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