I shuffled out of the room after taking a short nap. The activities earlier in the day had taken a lot out of me, even if it had been just after resting.
I stepped into the main room and rested my eyes on Ren, who was seated at the controls and was facing the window. His eyes were shut and his hands rested together in his lap. His back was upright and his long legs stretched out under the command tables. I barely sensed a pattern in his breathing.
After watching him for a moment, his eyes flicked open. His pupils dilated momentarily then returned to their usual dark state. His upper lip lifted slightly.
"Rey" he whispered.
"Kylo" he looked up at me, his brow furrowed as if he were deep in concentration. I approached him. I sensed a cloud of red distress floating around his thoughts.
"What is it?" I asked. He looked at me.
"We're low on supplies, we'll have to stop somewhere soon. I don't know where and I don't know if anyone will be willing to help us. We could get spotted by someone at any moment in any of the systems nearby." He looked at the holomap and sighed.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have gotten you. At least you'd be guaranteed food and security if I hadn't." He mumbled and I shook my head.
"They were going to use me as a bargaining piece, they might not have kept me around if I wasn't of any use. " I replied.
"We'll never know." He shrugged. I still sensed something about him that was filled with worry.
"What else is it?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Nothing I want to discuss." He said. I thought about it and decided to try pressing him.
"Kylo, tell me." He made an irritated face.
"I don't know." He started.
"I used to be a student of Luke Skywalker's, as I'm sure you know. When I went to join the first order, I destroyed the entire academy. They weren't able to rebuild.
Right before I left the First Order, I destroyed half of Starkiller. I don't know if they'll be able to recover from that. Coming to get you, I destroyed the Resistance base, the thing my mother spent her life working towards. I'm not sure of their recovery either.
I've successfully destroyed everything about me, everything I've touched." He finished, his eyes looking down at his lap.
I felt a hand reach out to me through the Force. I took it and I felt myself become submerged in his memories.
There are tons of people scattered around a ship bay, many of whom are children. There are a few small ships entering and
exiting, but most of those around are searching for the same thing.
A boy no older than seven with ears much too big for his head stands anxiously waiting the ship that will take him far from the loading dock he now shifts his feet on.
A man with tousled hair and a woman with a bun on each side of her head stand with the large eared boy. The man rubs the boy's shoulders.
"Are you excited to become a Jedi?" He says to the boy, who shakes his head.
"I don't want to go! I want to stay home with you." He says.
"Well mommy and I have a lot to do, we won't be home with you very much. And Uncle Luke will be there, and you like Uncle Luke don't you?" He asks and the boy shakes his head. The woman looks away as the ship arrives.
The scene dissolves as a new one forms.
At the bottom of a hill rested a temple of stone, with open walls that looked one way off the edge of a cliff whose bottom dipped into the ocean. The waves on the rocky coast could be heard faintly. there was not much of a tide today.
A boy with jet black hair sat with his body facing the sea, his facial expression one of frustration and his eyes sealed shut. Locks of hair tickled his forehead and the tips of his ears. He cannot be older than twelve.
Two adults, one a man with a light beard and a woman with braided hair walk to the top of the hill. They're discussing the boy, whom they've identified as a source of their distress.
The boy senses them but doesn't open his eyes, for he's trying desperately to meditate but can't seem to silence his mind. They approach the temple.
"I don't want to talk." He says.
"We just want to help you. You can't shut us out. Master Luke is here to teach you how to control your thoughts and your actions, it would be best if you worked with him." The woman says.
"I don't want help. I can handle myself just fine."
The second scene dissolves and a new one forms.
There is a meadow far west of the temple with a flat rock seated at it's center. There are few flowers in the grasses and few clouds in the sky, with trees on the outskirts of an area with almost as much roundness as a circle.
A boy with an only slightly filled frame has his back to a girl with flowing hair. He stands near the rock as she takes a step towards him. His hair has grown out slightly and his ears seem to make a little more sense. He's most definitely seventeen.
His facial expression indicates he has no desire to continue the conversation, though she presses.
"Just tell me what's changed!" She says.
"It doesn't matter. You're training to be a Jedi, you shouldn't care so much about this." He says. His eyes look to the ground, though she cannot see them.
"I know that's not why you're acting this way. Something's happened. It's like you aren't you anymore." She says.
This scene dissolves and a fourth scene forms.
There is a dark room with a spotlight on a familiar chair. There is no other source of light in the room besides the spotlight and a few dim lights along the walls. A door at one end of the room slides open.
A man dressed in crisp black robes enters the room and kneels some distance before the chair. He's quite tall and his hair touches his shoulders. He carries a mask and his cloak looks untouched. His eyes look dark. He is twenty three.
A small, slithery looking being enters from a door hidden by shadows at the other end of the room. He rests on the chair.
"Supreme leader Snoke, I have eliminated the Jedi. They no longer stand in our way." He says.
"Excellent. Your training is nearly complete, Kylo Ren." The being says.
The fourth scene dissolves and a final scene forms.
A ship with side wings waits in a ship bay with it's doors open. There aren't any people around and the few workers seem unconcerned with the ship.
A man of age thirty in dark tattered robes storms towards the ship, lightsaber in hand. His face looks enraged and his eyes leak with emotion. His hair is unkempt and sweat sticks it to his forehead.
He shuts the door, and soon the ship leaves the bay. Shortly after it's departure, it turns slightly and shoots out a single blast in the direction of the base it left behind; the blast hits just the right spot and sets off a chain of explosives, effectively splitting the base in half.
The man can sense the screams from in the safety of his ship, but can also sense something else calling him to the outer rim.
I opened my eyes as I fell out of his mind and I looked at him. He looked out towards the window.
"I don't know who I am." He said.
"Who do you want to be?" I asked.
"I don't know." He replied.
"My mother called me "Ben"."