Kylo Ren sliced at the surrounding foliage, his new lightsaber burning through wood and leaves. Animals could be heard yelping and running away from his path of destruction. Each slash was a little fiercer, a little more violent. He was looking to kill and he wasn't afraid to show it. Suddenly, a twig snapped behind him. He whipped around, going for a direct strike without bothering to ask questions. The red saber halted just before slicing through the small child's neck. "Oh. It's you," he mumbled, turning off the sword, his fit of passion seeming to have left him upon her appearance. "How's your wound?" The teen tried sounding nonchalant about it but she had been absent for months and Snoke still talked about her as if she were dead, which she pretty much had been by the time Snoke finally sent a shuttle to retrieve them.

She unzipped her very tattered black jumpsuit and revealed the wound. It was still red and angry but scar tissue seemed to be forming around the edges. At least it was starting to close up. He nodded his approval and quickly zipped the suit up for her. "You really shouldn't do that. It's not proper." She tilted her head to the side but said nothing. Tentatively, he reached out to her with the Force, wondering what he might find there. Her aura was… silent, completely void of emotion. She was, at the very least, Force-sensitive but there was no real reason to expect that she was gifted with it at all. Pressing further, he sought her mind, wanting to break beyond this mask of stoicism.

Breaking through her mind was terribly hard, harder than any of the others he had been practicing on. But when he finally breached her irons walls he found… nothing. Her mind was blank, clear. Images of him standing in front of her was all. The present, nothing more. No emotion, no curiosity, no questions, no thoughts, no memories. Somewhere there had to be memories! Wherever they were, he couldn't find them. His mind retreated away from hers and they stood, staring at one another.

"Has ze trees offend you?" A low sigh escaped his lips as he glanced around at the damaged forestry.

"No… I just – I finally finished my new lightsaber. See?" He held out the hilt to her. She grasped it in her tiny hands, the hilt suddenly seeming much larger than it really was. Moving silently despite the scattered leaves on the floor, she gave herself space to maneuver and turned it on. After a few moments, cross guards appeared on either side of her hand. The saber was about as long as she was tall and she used two hands to wield it. In all their battles, he had never seen her hold anything with both hands. With an expert's agility, something he had only seen Luke use before, she played through an imaginary battle, slicing through foes and twirling about in the air to dodge invisible attacks. All this without a sound. Only the crackle of his lightsaber could be heard as she fought.

"Too long," she muttered, handing it back to him. "My saber very silent." She pulled out hers and very formally presented it to him. The hilt looked like it was made out of a tin can with rubber strips melted onto it. Her activation switch was a literal bottle cap. Shaking his head, he turned on the saber, watching the red blade shoot out. In all, it was less than his arm's length, but perfect for the tiny wielder. He had to admit, despite her short range, she never had a problem striking down enemies. "Try," she urged him. Reluctantly, he swung the lightsaber, noting how light it was compared to his, and the fact that only a small buzzing sound resonated from the blade.

"It's alright for a child," he acquiesced, handing it back. No reaction. "Your Basic is better."

"I has been practicing."

"Where? With who?"

"I listen to ze fighters. I has been sleeping in ze rafters above ze fighting area." He brought his lightsaber up and pointed it at her.

"You've been above us the whole time and you never said anything to me?" Azure eyes glanced down at the weapon.

"I is not soup-ohs to speak Basic." He stepped forward, raising the blade to her shoulder and pushing it behind her until they were standing just an arm's length apart.

"Supposed to," he corrected her, watching her for any show of emotion, any acknowledgement of the fact that he could kill her with one fell swoop. Her head cocked to the side, revealing her neck to him even more. Burn wounds coated the revealed skin. "You're not supposed to speak Basic," he mumbled, examining her. The small child was completely relaxed, even as he turned his lightsaber off and grabbed her head and shoulder, keeping her in the same position while his fingers traced each scar. They were obviously from a lightsaber.

"I not sup–ohs to speak Basic." He could feel her heartbeat pulsing in her neck: slow, steady, calm.

"I'm not supposed to speak Basic. Try it again."

"I'm not sup-post to speak Basic." Without thinking about it, he laughed, letting her go and looking down at her. "You learn me Basic?"

"Yeah, I'll teach you Basic, kid. No problem." He turned as if to walk away and then whipped around, his lightsaber stopping right in front of her nose. Not even a blink. "Don't you feel fear?!" he shouted, she pushed his lightsaber away with her own and stepped forward, right up to his chest and stared up.

"Fear?"

"Yeah. You know, heart racing, adrenaline pumping fear. Terror. Surprise. The want to avoid pain, avoid death. Any of that?!"

"I no like pain mais I no avoid pain. I pain me." She tapped her neck. Kylo Ren bent down, staring into her eyes and trying again to sense something from her aura.

"You burnt yourself? With your lightsaber?" She nodded.

"Pain outside make less pain inside." He knew exactly what she meant. How many hours had he spent fighting rocks just to make his muscles ache and hands bleed? How many times did he attack his surroundings – most people called them tantrums – to release the pent-up anger and frustration and the inherent desire to tear himself apart?

"Why do you hurt on the inside, Ren? What causes your pain on the inside?" It had been a long time since he had heard anyone use a tone as gentle and coaxing as he was using with her. Raw anguish shook the girl. Where before he could sense nothing of what was happening inside of her, suddenly Kylo was overwhelmed by the sheer strength of her emotions. "Hey. No, it's okay. It's okay." At a loss for what to do, he pulled her into his arms. The emotion drained from her body instantly and she stood rigid in his arms.

"What is you doing?" her muffled voice rang against his chest. He pulled back, feeling blood rush to his cheeks though he wasn't quite sure why. This kid was just… weird. He didn't know how he felt about her.

"It's called a hug. Haven't you had one before?"

"Hug?"

"Yeah. It's a sign of affection… well, usually. People do it to comfort other people."

"Oh. I no sup-post to has human contact."

"Right. Like you're not supposed to speak Basic." White hair bobbed up and down. A pause. "Ren… If you're not supposed to speak Basic, or have human contact, why do you do those things with me?"

"You call me."

"I call you?"

"From ze trees," she pointed upwards. "You no ignore me."

"But you're disobeying a direct order from Supreme Leader Snoke, aren't you?" Silence.

"You no tell Monsieur Snoke. Like you no tell I speak Basic."

"That's lying, Ren. That's very dangerous. Snoke can tell when you lie."

"He no tell when I lie." Kylo studied her. He hadn't been able to reach into her memories or sense her emotions, even though it was now apparent she had them. Well, at least some. Could she really hide from Snoke?

"Tell me why you're in pain, Ren." She took a step back, the same wealth of torment welling up as she shied away from him. He caught her by the wrist. "You can tell me. You can trust me. You're safe here. No pain on the outside."

"I like pain on ze outside. Less pain in." Her voice cracked, tears started to collect in her eyes. In the six months he had known her, never had she shown any sort of emotional being and now it seemed he had pushed her to her breaking point. Yet, Kylo was relentless. He had to know. He couldn't be the only one in the Knights of Ren who didn't feel completely whole.

"Tell me, Ren," it was nothing short of a command. A single tear spilt onto her cheek and she glanced down, hanging her head.

"Ze dead…Ze dead in my head," she sobbed. "I no like kill. I no want to. Ze dead make pain on inside all ze time. Why I kill? I no want kill." And suddenly, she made just a little more sense. Hesitantly, Kylo reached out and pulled her back into his arms. This time, she continued sobbing, her inner turmoil spilling across the Force so he could sense it. In some ways, it was more than anything he had experienced, in others it felt oddly familiar.

"Ren… Ren, listen to me. Forget this. You can't let Snoke know about this. Turn it off, just like you did before. Just turn the pain off." She jerked out of his arms, staring at him with red, watery eyes. He tried to catch her wrist again, but she was both stronger and faster. Just as suddenly as she had appeared, she vanished back into the jungle. Kylo sighed but let her go, noticing when her signature disappeared from the Force.