Oh... Hey: You're probably like... holy crap, Kimmyhazard. Another chapter? You just posted one like... yesterday. And I'll say, YEP. I did. Sorry, I was really grumpy today and this story and you guys make me happy so, here, have a chapter! Besides... I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY excited about something in the next chapter (or maybe 2 depending how long it is) and I can't wait to have you guys read it.

You guys are really the best readers ever, your reviews are wonderful and I love talking to you guys! Keep being awesome, seriously. I know it's not hard for you guys to be awesome, because you just are. Just saying.

Anywhere, let's boogie.

She didn't expect him to be in her room that night. Hell, she didn't want to expect him. Had it been hours before, she would have melted right before him. Now, she wanted him to go away and never come back. Yet, here he was. In all his anger and childish glory, standing in the middle of her room and looking utterly pissed off. The two saying nothing at first as Ash stood in the doorway to her room. With one large (and honestly just as pissed off) step, she entered the room. The tension in the room was so thick, it was almost impossible to breathe as the door behind her slid shut.

"To think-" He started. "I sent you here out of the kindness of my heart; to keep you safe, and you manage to go off with that pilo-"

"Oh, save it, Ren! Don't come at me with that I saved your life bullshit." Ash shouted back at him, startling him ever-so-slightly. "There's nothing to be jealous of!"

"You don't get to tell me what to feel-"

"You tortured a man over nothing!"

Now, he was fuming. Pure, unadulterated, anger surging through his body. "BECAUSE HE WAS THINKING ABOUT YOU." As though that made it any better or justified anything he was feeling then. The room shook, the lights flickered. Even across the stars, he was a powerful force to be reckoned with. It showed then. Yet, even in all that anger all that power, Ash saw right through him. A suffering boy who was jealous someone was playing with "his" toys. "You expect me to just share you, like you're a force of good for everyone. Whether or not his intentions say otherwise. I'm not going to share you."

Ash exhaled deeply. "Ben-" The two froze, her eyes going wide. She didn't exactly mean to call him Ben… it just kind-of slipped out there.

"I'm not going to share you." He said softer this time. Yet, the fact still remained. He was simply a jealous boy who felt like he was losing his grip on the one thing he had wanted to keep.

"I'm not asking you to." Her voice quiet. "Why would I be fighting so hard to come back to you if I didn't want to be only yours?"

He hated when she made sense. He also hated feeling weak and by the stars, right now, he felt his whole resolve crumbling. "You're angry with me."

"You're damn right I am." Ash snapped. "You didn't have to kill him."

"He was going to die all the same." Kylo waved her off, cruelty in his heart as he didn't tell her that Poe Dameron was still, in fact, alive. "This is war, Ash. And you're on the wrong side of it."

Ash frowned as she held her ground; her arms crossing over her chest as she said probably one of the worst things she could have. "Well, who sent me here?"

She watched his body tense, his fists clenching tightly as his jaw tightened. Hell, if he were actually in the room, she'd be terrified right now. He began to pull himself back and out of the room; back across the stars. Yet, Ash could hear him yell. He was angrily yelling and it ripped right through her being. Even though they were light years apart, she could feel him destroying everything around him. What the hell happened to them?

The next morning, Ash sat up abruptly, her room was dark; the sun hadn't peaked over the horizon just yet. Her mind was fogged and her focus unclear as a numbing sense overcame her. She couldn't hear the typical morning noises from the base. Everything was muffled; she was channeling a different plane. But, she wasn't channeling him. She knew that. She could feel it wasn't him. This was different. "Hello?" She heard. An unfamiliar voice was speaking to her, breaking into her existence. "Hello?" It said again. Ash tried to focus on it, hone in on who was trying to contact her. Yet, there was an overwhelming feeling that whomever was reaching out, didn't know they were doing it. Almost by accident; maybe fate? Someone was channeling across the stars and to her.

She was also growing very tired of the Force and it's consistent attempts to draw out the grey user in her. Ashlyn Novafall was busy; she was now part of the Resistance and needed to prove herself.

Ash was given a dark brown bomber vest from another Resistance member after she expressed her clear interest in helping them. The vest held the insignia of the Resistance; something she was oddly proud of. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she belonged. She spent as much time possible assisting in fixing and upgrading as many ships and terminals as possible. She was going to have this base running at full capacity.

Leia appreciated her sudden desire to be part of the Resistance. At first, she was unsure about the burst of devotion from Ashlyn. However, Ash was proving to be sincere in her role.

She worked hard, day in and day out to assist in any way she could. That also meant checking the engines and priming the Raddus for any immediate evacuations or means of battle. The Raddus was huge; and even that didn't give the ship justice. It was the main hub for all galactic proceeds of the Resistance and rightfully so. The ship was gorgeous and Ashlyn loved working on it.

The hallways were long and winding, leading from different ports and places that could hold a plethora of ships at any given time. There was a medical bay, a weapons room, a communications hub, and of course, the launch bay with escape pods. Ash was in mechanic heaven as she worked on as many parts of the ship as she could. Today, she wanted to work in the depths of the ship and with the escape pods. In her experience, more ships suffered from malfunctions in their escape pods due to a lack of repairs and maintenance. She was not going to have that happen here.

Ash delved deep into the depths of the ship and began to work on the fifty escape pods on the left side alone. This was going to take a few days, she realized. Happily though, she accepted that.

Yet, something peculiar happened on one of those days. Typically, Ash found herself alone; she prefered it that way. However, one of those days, something different happened.

As Ash recalibrated the spring action of the escape pod door to make for a secure evac, she felt something. No… she felt someone. It was that someone again. Ash walked out of the pod, looking around the empty and quiet launch sight. "Hello?" She called out, hearing nothing in return. Perhaps she was paranoid. This was very different and yet so very familiar. "Hello?" She tried again.

All at once, Ash found herself suddenly unable to hear the engines anymore. They were off in the distance; their hum was numbing. It was as though her hearing all together failed; but then she heard it. "Hello?" A voice she had heard before calling back to her.

"Is someone there?" Ash asked, seeing nothing but the interior of the ship before her.

"Who are you?" The voice asked, panicked. "Where am I?" The voice called back, it was unmistakingly a girl's voice. "What is this place?"

"What place? Where are you?"

"Everything is black; empty. Where are you?" The female voice asked.

Ash shrugged. "On a ship. I can't see you."

There was a pause. "I can't see you either."

"I'm not sure what's going on." She answered. "I know I'm not sleeping."

Ash could sense concern and fear all in one. "I think I am."

"Where are you?" Ash asked.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

She was honest. "You don't." Ash said. "But I think you can feel that you can. Because I can sense that I can trust you." The other person said nothing. "I'm Ash."

Ash could feel the strange connection begin to break. "Rey." She heard, echo ship as Ash began to hear normally again. The weight of their connection breaking all together as the quiet hum returned to the ship. "Rey…" Ash repeated; the name echoing in her head. Something about Rey was different; comforting.

"There's been an awakening." Anakin explained, appearing from thin air and causing Ashlyn to jump. She hated when he did that. "I know you can feel it."

"Another user?" Anakin nodded. "She's scared; unsure of what's going on." Ash let out an airy and surprised laugh. "She's light." She recognized. That was what was so different and comforting about Rey. She was everything Kylo Ren wasn't. She was the other side of the scale, the other side of the grey that Ashlyn sat in. The other part of the balance. "I felt it. She has light in her." Ash was excited now, excited for so many reasons. "I have to go find her." Ash said. "Bring her here with the Resistance, help her find her way with the Force."

"Slow down." Anakin chuckled. "You don't even know where she is."

Ash deflated slightly; he had a point. "She doesn't know she has the Force within her. I could tell. It's scary not knowing…"

"You'll find her, have faith."

"I could try reaching out to her again." Ash suggested.

Anakin nodded. "You could, but if she isn't strong with the Force just yet, that may be difficult to do."

Ash groaned. "You and your wisdom. It's really annoying sometimes."

"Only when it pulls you back from irrational decisions." Anakin teased.

Ash rolled her eyes. "Remind me why I keep you around again?"

Anakin shrugged. "I'm the only one able to help you train. Oh, and keep you level headed when things like this arrive."

"I don't need you." She lied. "I just like the company."

"The company of a ghost."

Ash playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine, if you're going to be that way, I'll find help somewhere else."

He gave her a pointed look. "And where do you plan to find help?"

Ash thought for a moment, he had a point. Without Anakin, she was almost at a loss. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had Leia. The lightbulb went off in her head, even Anakin could see it as Ash realized she had more help than she originally thought. "Leia has books." She said. "She has books about the galaxy and the history of the wars. She said I could borrow them, perhaps I should take her up on that offer."

"It's better than constantly talking to a ghost."

Ash simply laughed.

Kylo Ren was running out of things to destroy on StarKiller. With the news of Poe Dameron escaping thanks to the help of a defective Trooper, he let out his frustrations on one of the only remaining in-tact communication hubs. Poor Lieutenant Mitaka wasn't even done giving him the bad news when he mentioned that the very same Trooper had escaped Jakku with the droid in question and some girl. At first, Kylo Ren thought he had meant Ashlyn and nearly killed Mitaka on the spot. Then, he realized, no. That wasn't possible. He knew she was still on D'Qar; she was convinced he killed the pilot anyway. Something else was going on, something much more of a nuisance to Kylo Ren and his plan. That was only confirmed when his presence was requested in the cavern along with Hux.

Their relationship had been strained lately as well. When they both met at the door to the cavern, Hux didn't have anything to say to the man in the helmet. The map slipped away from them and now with this new development, things were growing increasingly complicated.

Silently, they entered the cavern and stood before the Supreme Leader. "It has come to my attention that we are not in possession of the map." Snoke's voice low; disapproving in his tone. "What's worse, the map to Skywalker has been misplaced within a droid."

"Supreme Leader, I take full responsibility-" Hux tried.

"General!" Snoke hissed. "I want that map found and delivered to me by sundown, is that clear?" Hux nodded only once before turning and exiting the cavern; leaving Kylo Ren alone. He had work to do. "There has been an awakening. I know you sense it. The Grey user called out to it; the light in the galaxy rising to meet the darkness. Another presence you'll fail to kill."

Damn. Kylo Ren thought. Of course Snoke knew Ash was alive, he wasn't stupid. However, he kept that card to his chest; a winning hand to throw down in a moment like this. A moment to exploit Kylo Ren's weakness. "She escaped."

"While I doubt that, Commander. We have a new problem on our hands." Snoke sneered. "If the Grey User finds the newly awakened Light; we will be outnumbered. The Grey User once again proves to be a dangerous component. I have changed my mind; this weakness of yours, this Ashlyn." Something in Kylo Ren spoke out to Snoke then; he realized he absolutely hated the way the deformed creature said her name. It only proved Snoke's point. "She could prove to be useful still." He was afraid of that and in his troubled state he only confirmed it to Snoke that she was useful, but in a much more devious way. "I have felt her struggle; her pull to the darkness. Now I see, you provoke her more than she provokes you. Tempt her with the dark side. If Skywalker is brought back, we will need more help within the darkness."

"She won't join us." Kylo Ren shot down that idea immediately.

"She will for you." Snoke was confident in that. "I sense it; she will turn for you. But, you will fail if you are not committed to the dark; snuff out the light that is still in you." Snoke snarled. "The droid was seen on Takodana; escorted by your father."

Kylo Ren didn't flinch. "He means nothing to me."

"That is how you will defeat the last remaining light within you." Kylo Ren didn't need to ask what Snoke meant; he knew. He knew what he had to do. In that selfish capacity of wanting Ashlyn back, and the part of him that needed the darkness for his own personal gain, he knew what he had to do. What he was willing to do for power.

Ash grabbed roughly five different books from Leia's office; luckily for her, Leia didn't mind all too much. Granted, she hadn't actually been in the room when she took them. Ash wanted to learn as much as she could, perhaps it would give her some insight to this constant battle within the galaxy. She started reading from one of the earliest books she found; a brief history of the Galactic Republic and the corruptions of the senate. The rise to power of Emperor Palpatine and his apprentice, Darth Vader.

The overall takeover of the Galactic Republic began with the fall of the Jedi Order. The Order was split apart from the inside due to the corruption and mistrust placed within the Order. While Sheev Palpatine was a Sith Lord hidden amongst the Republic, he managed to sever the ties and bonds between Jedi Knights. The Jedi Council; and all known Jedi, were slain once Palatine gained full control.

"All the Jedi died?" Ash asked, looking up from the book.

"They were killed during the rise of power." Anakin explained, expression no real emotion to give him away. "The Jedi Council was corrupt in its own way; it contradicted itself. Hypocrisy was a very large problem within the Order."

Ash frowned. "But I thought the Jedi were good?"

"They were glorified to an overwhelming degree. There was always a struggle between good and evil, however, when examined closely, neither side was really all that different."

"So why don't more Force Users practice balancing both sides?"

Anakin shrugged. "It's a little more complicated than that."

"Does this mean I can't be a Jedi or a Sith if I'm grey?"

"I think you're beyond titles to define you, Ash. You're a unique enigma in the system."

She pursed her lips. "Thanks, I think?" Her attention returned to the book as she began to read more about a super weapon known as the Death Star. She had heard the bare minimum of the Galactic War and how it came to be. Yet, like everything else, details were always amiss. Ash wanted to learn, she needed to know how things came to be. History always repeats itself and it would continue to do so due to a lack of knowledge. She wasn't going to be part of another statistic. To her horror, the more she read about the Death Star, the more she realized she had helped build a rather similar piece of destruction. "StarKiller is just another Death Star; I gave the First Order their own super weapon."

"And the Rebels overcame it." Anakin reminded her gently. "Don't forget that."

"Yeah, but what if they can't? Heroes don't just fall out of the sky to save the day-" There was a knock at her door. Ash felt her heart sink into her stomach.

"Maybe they do." Anakin quipped as Ash hesitantly got off her bed and answered the call.

When the door slid open, she was met with a familiar Resistance member. He had a mix of excitement, shock and awe on his face. His chest rising and falling from running throughout the halls of the Resistance base. "You need to come to the Communication Hub."

She didn't hesitate then as she followed the man to the hub. Something in her told her that Poe was alive. She didn't know why or how she knew, she just knew that the hero she was thinking about would be there.

Upon entering the hub, Ash searched frantically throughout the room, her eyes stopping on the familiar orange jumpsuit. It was torn, tattered and dirtied. But she recognized it all the same as the man turned. His face bruised slightly, his lip split. Yet, that didn't change that dazzling smile he had when he realized she entered the room. "Ash…" He said, rushing over to her.

Ash ran to him, meeting him halfway as she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. His arms around her waist as he picked her up, spinning around happily as they embraced. "You're alive!" She exclaimed, tears streaming down her face as she hugged him.

He put her down gently; not letting go at first as he hugged her a little long. "I promised you I was coming back." Finally, the two pulled away. Poe looked at her, noticing the new bomber vest she was wearing. "I like it." He beamed. "The Resistance suits you."

Ash laughed, wiping away any stray tears. "How did you get back here?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Poe explained.

"It doesn't matter. You're alive." Ash's voice held relief and also the tiniest hint of regret. Sure, Poe was alive. However, he was tortured because of her. That wasn't something she could forget so easily. "BB-8?" She asked.

Poe exhaled as he shrugged; his smile getting lost in concern. "I gave him the map and sent him off. He's on Jakku somewhere; I have to go back and find him."

"You just got back." Ash argued. "Send someone else; we have just as brave pilots who can go out and look."

"He's my buddy, Ash." Poe countered. "I can't sit idly by and wait for news that he's been picked apart by scavengers or worse…"

"But what if he isn't even on Jakku anymore?"

"I won't know until I look."

Just then, Admiral Ackbar spoke; interrupting the two in their little debate. "The droid has been spotted on Takodana."

Poe and Ash looked at each other before looking over at Leia and the Admiral. "Prep my X-wing, we have to get BB-8."

"We're sending the squadron this time, I'm not taking any chances." Leia informed him, looking to Ashlyn and seeing the relief on her face.

"I want to go too." Ash said, receiving an immediate and resounding 'No' from Poe.

"It's dangerous."

Ash scoffed. "I could be of help."

"If the First Order are there-" Poe tried once more.

"Then you'll need me." Her tone cocky. "I have a lightsaber, I can take care of my own."

Poe groaned. "Fine, but you're not taking an X-wing."

"She can fly with me, Pilot." Leia chimed in.

Poe, although unhappy, agreed. There was no fighting against Ashlyn and most certainly not against Leia Organa. The two were some of the most headstrong and stubborn women he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. More importantly, there wasn't enough time to even try; they had to go rescue BB-8.

Ash had been silent the entire flight to Takodana. Her nerves building up inside her; she hadn't left D'Qar in almost three months and now here she was, flying inside a transport unit with the General of the Resistance and a few assault soldiers. Everyone was ready for a battle, yet no one said as much. It was a bad omen to do so; it was better to keep everything together. That was, until the droid began speaking. "The success rate of finding the BB unit is 23.7%." The golden protocol droid said. This was the first time Ash actually had met C-3PO and immediately wanted to deactivate him. He was the only voice in the entire transport unit, and each time he spoke he gave some grave statistic about their failure.

The X-wing battalion had flown ahead of them to clear the airspace and help with the assault. As the Admiral predicted upon departure, they were probably going to be met with the First Order. He wasn't wrong and Ash could feel it.

The transport unit entered the atmosphere and Ashlyn could already feel the pull of darkness on the planet's surface. Kylo Ren was there; she felt him. But there was something else; light. "Rey…" She whispered, recognizing that familiar light.

In the distance, she could see smoke. Lasers from X-wings and TIE fighters bouncing through the air. Explosions on the ground; a battle was here. One they had just missed, but not by much. The transport unit landing on the now ruined Maz's castle; a cantina for weary travelers and smugglers all the same. Ash had never been here before, but she had heard of it from those passing through Laynor's shop.

Ash was one of the first to exit the transport, mostly to get away from C-3PO. She ignored the random creatures wandering around, displaced from the destruction. She wandered the battlefield in search of any fallen parts she could collect, or if any X-wing's needed a quick fix before flying back. As much as she wanted to fix something, it was almost a relief that all units had flown back to D'Qar unscathed. She almost lost her friend Poe Dameron once, she wasn't exactly prepared to go through that again.

Ash inhaled, the smell of sulfur from the fire and oil from the engines filled the air around her. With a groan, she sat down on a nearby structure that she was certain was a wall at some point. Takodana seemed nice, granted she was currently sitting in it's ashes right then and there. If it hadn't been burning, it was probably a nice place to visit.

She looked up at the sky, trying to clear her thoughts yet only to be met with something much more horrifying. The red streaks that were now brushing across the sky. She knew what they were. She knew and only shame and regret filled her as she stared helplessly at them. They fired the weapon on StarKiller for the first time and it was heading somewhere to cause ultimate destruction.

Without really thinking it through, she knew she had to see it closer. She had to see the guilt first hand and reached out across the stars once more.

He was standing alone, staring out the cockpit window as the red beam of light crossed in front of his ship. The beam was heading for the Republic, it would obliterate everyone and everything in the Hosnian system. He could sense the red haired girl was devastated over it and wasn't all too surprised to see her suddenly next to him. However, he was surprised that she still chose him for some form of comfort after everything that had happened.

"They did it." She said quietly. "It worked."

"We had one of the best mechanics working on it." His tone dry. "Of course it worked."

Her eyes fixated on the glowing and pulsing light in front of her. "I knew what it was capable of-" She said. "I just never expected…" She couldn't even finish her thought. The realizing and weight of the situation pulling down on her. This was her fault. All of it. The only thing she could do now was prevent it from happening again. "I'm going to stop you." Ash insisted. "All of this, I'm going to end it."

"I know, starshine." The sudden bright, yellow light in the distance caused Ashlyn to flinch. Not because of the brightness of the light, but because at that exact moment, the beam hit the Hosnian system and destroyed multiple planets in its wake. The sheer destruction unbearable to watch.

Kylo Ren wasted no time in wrapping his arm around her and pulling her to his side. She didn't resist as she hid her head in his side. StarKiller base was her doing; it was her fault and she knew it. While the two were in the worst place possible, they had one thing going for them. She still held hope that she'd stop him and bring him back to the Light. Kylo Ren? Well, Kylo Ren was now convinced that Ashlyn belonged in the darkness with him. A power struggle that would continue as things grew worse. Ashlyn began to disappear next to him, leaving him alone once more with the passed out Light User on board. Luckily for him, the red haired girl didn't sense it.

The beep was what pulled Ashlyn back to her plain of existence. She knew that beep, and as the rolling BB unit appeared from the woods, she smiled. "BB-8!" Ash exclaimed as the droid rolled over to her excitedly. "You're alright!" BB-8 beeped. "The First Order attacked Jakku, I know." Blip. "Poe was captured, but he's okay. I promise he's okay!" The droid beeped in relief. "We've been looking for you." He beeped and blipped more. "You have the piece?" Ash asked with disbelief before removing herself from the debris she sat on. "We have to tell the General, come on!" Ash began to run back to the landing sight, the droid following closely behind her.

When Ash returned to the landing sight, she noticed the three new faces among the ones she arrived with. One being a very fuzzy face of a Wookie, one a face she had never seen before, the other a very familiar face that went with the Wookie. "Han Solo." Her tone somewhat in distaste. Another piece to a puzzle she didn't realize she had. Solo wasn't exactly a common name; and now suddenly it made sense why Kylo Ren was so eager to not speak about his parents. One was a government official and the other was a smuggler. By the stars, this family was going to be the death of her, but now wasn't the time to freak out over it.

Han wearily smiled. "Hey, you're Laynor's mechanic!" He tried to smooth his way out of that one. Even an older Han Solo was still as dashing as ever. "It's been a while, how's Laynor doing?"

Oh yes, Ashlyn had met Han Solo a few times over the course of her apprenticeship at Laynor's shop. She had heard stories about the man with the Millenium Falcon and his faithful Wookie sidekick. That same smuggler who would go to Laynor's shop for parts, repairs and tune-ups and not once pay his bill. Granted, he'd sometimes bring them new parts and oddities from across the galaxy. Yet, that didn't really put money in Ash's pocket. Considering she was practically working for free on this man's ship. In all honesty… she really liked his ship and didn't mind. However, on days she would go hungry from a lack of credits? Yeah, she would mind quite a bit.

"Listen, if you see Laynor, you can tell him I have the-"

Ash held up her hand. "Save it. I don't work for him anymore."

Han nodded awkwardly. "So I see."

Ash looked at the Wookie and gave him a quick nod, he roared a quick greeting that she grinned slightly at. The grin wouldn't last as Leia brought everyone back to the devastating news. "We have just learned about the weapon on StarKiller Base."

The third new face chimed in. "It's an ion cannon that can project-"

"Refractal rays from Kyber crystals across the galaxy and create a devastating impact on contact." Ash replied duly before looking at the newcomer. He looked somewhat shocked and just a tad bit concerned at Ashlyn's knowledge.

"Ashlyn worked for the First Order before arriving here to assist us." Leia informed the group. "She also has information on the base. Ash, this is Finn, he used to work for the First Order was well."

Ash looked at him, without really controlling herself, she scanned his mind. She saw Poe, she saw that he helped Poe escape; BB-8, a girl. A girl that was a stranger and yet so familiar to her. "A Storm Trooper." Ash confirmed.

Finn blinked a few times. "Uh… yeah."

"She's also Force Sensitive." Leia confirmed, trying to keep Finn from freaking out at Ash's abrupt mind reading.

Finn suddenly realized who he was talking to. "Kylo Ren's apprentice."

Everyone in the immediate party stiffened. Suddenly, Ashlyn realized just how connected they all were. It was awful and yet strangely comforting at the same time. "We can discuss this back and D'Qar." Leia said. "We must plan our next move."

Awkwardly, the group shuffled back to the transport unit and returned to the Resistance base on D'Qar. Some with more questions than they had before.

Final Thought: Sorry for the awful filler chapter. The next ones are much better. I promise you that. Besides... our favorite due, Ash and Kylo Ren are going to need to run into each other soon, right? Remember to review and see y'all next chapter!