Two days had passed since she had woken up in this place, today making it three, and anything has yet to happen. Everyday all she would do was look out the window at the scenery, enjoying the sounds of the birds in the distance and sometimes, when the air was still enough, listen to the sounds of the town travel in. When she wasn't at her window Rey would talk with Mashra whenever she came around, asking about how things worked at this arena, what the other servants were like, and also just inquiring as to how she fit in among them. Then when she was left alone by herself in her needlessly gigantic room, Rey trained herself to keep up her strength, practicing all of her attacks, defenses, evasion, and techniques. Kylo Ren had an upper hand in size, brute strength, as well as experience, so all she could do was heighten her technique to combat all that.

She noticed that his style had a lot to do with pressure points and utilizing them against his opponent early on to weaken their ability to continue fighting. Rey didn't know of any way specifically to avoid or counteract that technique, so she primarily focused on evasive fighting, giving lightning flash jabs before backing out of arm's length.

Rey didn't want to be his apprentice; she didn't want to learn from him, no matter how valuable his knowledge is. Yet she could not leave, she was bound to this building- this room -and her new master. The only way she could possibly avoid becoming a pupil to the likes of him was if Rey managed to defeat him in battle. She lost the first time because he caught her off guard and held her down with him massive body weight, she needed a way to avoid falling into his grasp in order to avoid another hold- hence why she was training in evasion. Fighting isn't just a flurry of punches and big mussels; it also has to do greatly with strategy, technique, and stamina. So far Rey hasn't seen the limits of his stamina, so she doesn't know how long he can last in a match. The greatest ring fighters could go for half an hour without tiring, but that was extremely difficult to do and she has never been able to last that long.

Unlike the normal spectator fighting, which she's heard of on occasion but has never seen, where it's purely for sport and not to the death, there are up to three rounds up with a six minute time limit, meaning they have to fight for about eighteen minutes with breaks in between. The type of fighting she was pushed into lasted until the other was dead, it could last any period of time, so stamina was key. Although, fights lasting more than half an hour were rare because of the brutality and inhumanity of the fighting. Rey has never had a fight last more than fifteen minutes, and her stamina could last her nine minutes, all the times she'd run low on energy she would result to fighting dirty or smartly. However, she felt like those tricks would not last on a monster like Kylo Ren, and her current skill level (as much as she hated to admit it) could not match up to his. The only chose Rey saw that she had was to build up her stamina to the absolute limit.

Paying no heed to the roaring ache in her muscles, Rey climbed up the posts of her bed to the bars that held the dark blue drapes over the bed and hung upside down by the bar and did as many curl-ups as physically possible before all the blood rushed to her head. After that she simply grabbed onto the bar and hung in the air by her arms, seeing how long she could last just holding herself up inches above the ground. She counted the seconds to see what her strained limit was- not counting minutes since she never learned how to count time besides seconds, Rey had always gotten her time from what people were doing in the undergrounds, going by breakfast, lunch, and dinner to tell the time of day; Unklar Plutt always told her what her best time was, but never educated her on how to tell for herself. Rey knew that her best time was five hundred and forty seconds because she once counted the seconds of a match that lasted nine minutes, that's also how Rey knew thirty minutes was one thousand eight hundred seconds. She just didn't know how to use math to figure out how long a minute was, and the other fighters weren't joyfully offering to teach a competitor how to do math calculations, Ivano didn't know how either. So Rey simply resulted to counting seconds, not that it bothered her. When all you ever did was slave over work all day everyday with nothing else to do, counting in your head was an alright way to pass the time.

At last I felt my arms way heavier and heavier and fail to hold me up. I started to circum to my tired body and slip down when the door to my room was unlocked and opened. In walked Mashra, with our regularly scheduled dinner. However when she saw me hanging by my bed posts' upper bar she froze in her spot as the guard outside, Slip, closed the door and locked it.

"Um, Rey… what are you doing up there?" She asked as she slowly walked over towards the side bed. When she reached her, Rey finally let herself fall to the ground, her arms flaring.

"I was trying to increase my stamina." The tired girl replied as she sunk down to the floor.

"May I ask why?" Mashra inquired and sat down next to her. "How long were you up there?"

"About three hundred and sixty three seconds, I'm trying to find a way to beat Kylo's technique."

"Three hundred… seconds… Rey, don't you know how to count minutes?" The servant asked the fighter. Rey shook her head no.

"I've only learned how to count seconds, I don't know how to do maths." Rey admitted, suddenly feeling sheepish about her lack of an education at such a late age.

"Are you literate?" Mashra inquired further.

"What that mean?" Rey asked back, she'd never heard of that word before.

"It means to able to read and write." Mashra defined.

"Oh, well I can read a little, but I've never written before. I might be able to do it."

"Would you like me to help you? I've had an education up until I was sixteen."

"Really you would do that for me?" Rey asked excitedly, thrilled that she might at last get an education after years of only being able to count to two thousand and read the labels on the food in the kitchen.

"Of course, were friends aren't we?" Mashra smiled, Rey's eyes widened slightly in unexpected surprise, then smiled back as well.

"Yes, we are."

"Well then, let's have dinner then get you a bath."

"A bath?"

…

The large the metal door stood menacingly before him, taunting him with what lays on the other side of its iron hinges. Kylo Ren had been summoned by Master Snoke and was due to arrive at once. He could think of only one thing that would call for such a sudden call, which could lead to two possibilities of what would happen in there.

Waving off two his personal guards, Kylo motioned for them to stay in the hallway then opened the large door, walking into the room with a tall stance. The room was draped with crimson red curtains all around the walls, the lights set on dim as usual. Guards in red armor stood on all sides, watching closely as he walked forward towards Snoke's large throne like seat, taking a knee when he came closer.

"You summoned me, my master?" Kylo questioned, his head down in a submissive bow.

"Yes, my apprentice. I have called you here to inquire about the young Rey." Kylo could sense the disappointment and acquisition in his master's voice.

"Her injuries from are fight have been healing, my master. My resources have told me that's she's been training herself in her room since she's arrived." Kylo informed his master, still keeping his gaze locked on the floor.

"Then what has been keeping you from starting her training?" He questioned threateningly, suspicion laced in his breath. Kylo could feel his insides begin to sink down and tighten.

"My method of training is extremely vigorous and brutal, my master, the girl would not be able to survive if she was not fully healed." He offered in reply, strengthening his resolve to not let his composure crack under the pressure that was rising up. However, it seemed like it was not enough to hind the influx of tone in his voice. Snoke's eyes squinted at his second hand and favored fighter.

"You have compassion for her." He muttered in a low, haunting voice. Kylo finally dared to look up, his eyes visibly showing a resolve and contempt, but also a layer of uncertainty.

"Impossible, this girl is but a foolish child." Kylo Ren denied his master's claim.

"Yet she has created a rift in your spirit. Dominate her; mind, body, and soul. Remind her of what she is, only then will you clear your mind of these treacherous thoughts." Snoke commanded him, sending a cold chill throughout his body. "You will start her training tomorrow."

"Yes, master." Kylo bowed his head once more, standing to his feet and turning away towards the door which he had walked in through.

His guards were waiting for his as he had commanded, and followed him without being acknowledged. He found himself convicted and confused, unsure of what it was he had done and what he was after. When he had decided the girl's fate when he defeated her, he had surprised even himself, for he had long since rid himself of his compassion for others years ago, never even thinking of sparing an opponent since then. So when the words to take her in came out of his mouth, he was left perplexed by his own being.

Yet there was something about her that made his decision so obvious. They had spoken with each other only twice before their fight, though he could see her own inner conflict reflected in her eyes, and above all else, her longing and loneliness. He felt himself sympathize with her, something he was not used to doing, but felt was right with her. Kylo could sense a likeness between them. It infuriated him. It intrigued him.

When he carried her in his arms, he felt an attachment form along with a fierce protectiveness. The girl has known suffering as he has, it made him want to save her, but he could not do that entirely. Kylo's only option was to switch out her physical torture for his mental torture.

Then when he had first confronted her, she turned him away, believing him to be not but a horrid monster. Kylo had expected as much, but it also made him crave her understanding, and her destruction. He wanted her freedom and protection; he wanted her submission and fear. Kylo was unsure what it was he wanted at this point, nor why it was that had brought him here. How was it that felt both empathy and envy for this girl?

An inquiring, fluttering voice sounded down the hall to his right. Rey was with her personal servant and caretaker, standing outside the bathroom, her appointed guard following close behind.

"So you don't stand up in a bath?" She questioned, obviously intrigued about what he guessed was her first bath.

"No, my Lady, you sit down in a bath." Her caretaker answered as she opened the door to her prepared tub. He watched from the side as she walked in after her, and he could her astonishment form where he was standing.

"Wow! Why is there so much water in this hole?"

Kylo felt the corner of his mouth twitch up ever so slightly before his face fell flat immediately afterwards. This girl was indeed ignorant and foolish, it was endearing and irking at the same time. Kylo walked over, nodding to both Rey's guard and his guards to step back and give him some privacy, when her servant came back out, she looked up at him in slight surprise.

"My Lord, what can I do for you?"

"I want a report, how has she been?"

"I'm giving her a bath, just as you had ordered. It seems like she's only ever had showers with cold water ten seconds at a time before now." Mashra provided him with knowledge to which he was demanding from her.

"Is she still training in her room every day?"

"Yes, today I found her hanging from her bedpost trying to increase her stamina."

"For what reason?"

"You." She said back. Kylo was taken back with the unexpected news. "She says that she's trying to find a way to defeat you in battle. She admitted that she cannot match your technique and strength, so she's trying to find another way around that."

He would have felt flattered of her mindset being on him if it wasn't for her wanting to surpass and leave him. A small glare set on his face as an acquisitive feeling wedge its way into him. If the girl, Rey, thought that she could defeat him as she was, then he'd joyously show her how wrong she was.

"Anything else?" He asked through gritted teeth.

Mashra hesitated for a moment, pondering whether or not she should tell him. But his obvious intolerance and lack of patience convinced her to say it anyway. "...I've found that she's had no previous education. She's only able to read certain labels of food and count, albeit to high numbers, she doesn't even know how to measure the passage of time."

All previous feeling of contempt or irritancy therefore fled as he heard this, how basic this knowledge seems to many, yet she has not been privileged enough to learn. He felt his heart be pierced with that pesky feeling of sympathy once again. He looked over to the door where she resided behind as if he could see through it. In that moment he wanted to save her and become someone to which she could rely on for help.

"Then teach her." He commanded as he walked away, heading back for his room down the hall. Slamming the door behind him upon walking in, abandoning his guards outside. He strode over to the fireplace and set it ablaze, sitting back in his chair as he watched the flame grow and overtake the wood inside, stripping away at the bark and turning it black. The fire consumed and dominated whatever it touched, leaving nothing but ash behind. He was called to be like that fire by his master, told to be the dominator and consume Rey's whole being in order to survive and stay lit. Yet, he wasn't sure if he could do as he was ordered.

Rey had the stained spirit of a child whose only wish was to belong and craved for understanding. Even with the blood and dirt that stained her, she still managed to shine. Kylo was too far gone, he could never shine again after all that he has done, he could never leave this place. Now neither could she; if she is to continue to stay under him her light will only be dirtied until it no longer shines.

Kylo wanted to protect that innocence, but he was sent to destroy it. He can no longer tell what it is that he's after, and he fears that if he continues down this road that he has paved with his decision to spare her, that she will become the fire that will destroy and taint him.

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Hey guys! I managed to squeeze in another update! Thank you all for being so willing to wait. I must apologize beforehand for any future delays, but I will try my best do upate at least once every... Two weeks. No promises. I hope y'all liked the chapter and I'll see you later!

P.s I called it maths because that's the proper name for shortening mathematics.

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