"He's here," Rey whispers to herself.
As twilight approaches, a black First Order shuttle, much like Snoke's personal craft she had once escaped in, shoots over the pink and orange horizon.
It lands in a whirl of dust and smoke on the grassy clearing. Rey pulls over the hood of her coarse brown cloak, covering her face from the debris as the ship settles and hisses.
A ramp descends and an ominous tall dark figure stands silhouetted against the interior light of the craft. Her heart stutters to see his large frame, adrenaline rushing at the fiery closeness of his dark aura that rolls out before him like a dark cloud.
A black cape billows behind him as he steps down onto the alien world, taking big purposeful strides towards his target.
Rey steels her resolve, determined to meet his blackness with light, knowing it was now or never.
Kylo Ren stops a few yards away from her, his chaotic emotions churning in no certain way. He was still furious, hurt and feeling betrayed. His anger was urging him to lash out, to end his ties to the light once and for all. It's what Snoke would have wanted.
Finally sensing his train of thought, Rey braved a response.
"Snoke was a fool," she offered confidently, "It was the light in you that destroyed him."
He continued to regard her coldly and quietly.
"Tell me why," he said low and slow, "I shouldn't destroy you now and be DONE with it."
Rey took a few steadying breaths, locking eyes with Ren and trying to hide her own, inexplicable feelings of hurt from his words. After everything we've been through?
She sighs, then removes a canvas pack from her back. She tosses it between them. A cover falls open, revealing the broken light saber of Luke Skywalker and a set of old tomes.
"Those," she points, "are the sacred Jedi texts from Luke's island. I STOLE those books, after I knocked Skywalker on his ass for what he did to you."
Kylo's eyes go wide.
"What," he growled. Instead of speaking she shows him the memory, of Luke disrupting their hand touching session, of her literally beating the truth out of him, of her telling Luke that Ben was their only hope…
"Naïve girl," he whispers disparagingly, "what do you expect of me now? I'm no one's savior…"
"TEACH ME!" Rey shouts with all the courage she can muster, willing her feelings to reach through the wall of evil he was building around his heart. For the first time she truly begins to fear that he is outside her grasp, that this could be her doom after all. She suppresses her growing anxiety and continues.
"Prove to me why I should go with you. Show me…"
"Once again, you are in no position to negotiate," he interrupted.
"And you have nothing to lose. If you can convince me, I go with you of my own free will to rule by your side or whatever it is you want of me. If not, you can kill me… Seems a fair deal to me."
Her heartbeat seems to strum in her ears as she waits for his response. He was hiding his thoughts from her.
They stared across the distance at one another… seconds stretch into minutes as Kylo thinks and Rey tries to quell her panic. She is making the biggest gamble of her life.
She really has no intention of becoming co-Supreme Leader, but she is desperately hoping that somewhere along the way - with them working together - IN PERSON - that she can reach him and turn Ben Solo's heart. The Force had allowed him to find her this night, in this place. She tries to have faith that it was for a reason that wouldn't end in her death.
The sun sets, their surrounding now only illuminated by the jaundiced glow of a giant yellow crescent moon, hanging over them like the sleepy gaze of an ancient celestial observer.
They stand, eyes on each other, neither moving.
Then he lights his blazing saber. His face is dark, his wide stance is ready to strike.
Rey gasps and tenses. She has no way to defend herself! She has no time to swallow the ball of despair and betrayal in her throat.
Ren charges!
Rey stumbles back!
He's a few paces away! All is lost!
And then…
The image flashes through her mind. An image of herself ducking down, redirecting his swing with a sweep of her arms, pushing him past her with the force…
SHE GASPS and complies!
She drops, completing the move, a hair's breath away from death as his unstable blade flies by her face, he slides away from her absorbing the force push.
She stands adrenaline pounding, panting desperately, confused and frightened.
"What," she starts, but he interrupts.
"You didn't die. You may be worth teaching after all."
She scoffs incredulous but swelling with relief, "you showed me that?"
"Hmm, but not so bright," he deadpans.
Rey doesn't know whether she wants to kill him or kiss him. Kill him, definitely.
"I don't have a weapon," she spits back.
"You won't always have a weapon, YOU are the weapon," he says forcefully, and he charges again!
—
The Supreme Leader left explicit instructions that he was not to be monitored or disturbed until he contacted the bridge himself. General Hux, seeing the folly and disadvantage in not having eyes and ears on the troublesome Ren, had taken it upon himself to send a stealthy drone down to the surface.
He works closely with a surveillance officer. The devise has light cloaking technology and flies silent. Ren and that monster of a girl shouldn't be able to see or hear it… provided they maintain a healthy distance.
An image emerges on a holo-display. Ren's shuttle in a clearing in high elevation. Flashes of tell-tale red in the distance.
He was in some kind of battle!
Hux feels a thrill of glee, sending a silent prayer for Ren's death.
He's busy fantasizing about his own coronation as Supreme Commander of the galaxy…when he notices…
"Not so close you imbecile!"
But it's too late. Kylo Ren halts his charge on the surface below and flings his hand out of the errant device. He crushes it with his mind and pings the com in his ear.
Of course that damn wizard would sense it!
"Hux," Ren says simply, dangerously calm.
"Supreme Leader, your safety is paramount to the future of the galaxy. We wanted to ensure…"
"While, I appreciate your concern General," Ren cuts Hux off, "if I catch any more of your prying eyes interrupting my negotiations, I'll be more than happy to pry your actual eye balls from your head when I return."
The com clicks out and Hux smacks the technician in the head. He demotes him, orders him off the bridge, but it's not enough.
Negotiations? Hux thinks. Isn't he supposed to be bringing the little wretch to justice? Aren't we here to kill the dangerous witch who cleaved our precious Snoke in two?
The explanation for the death of his beloved former-Supreme Leader had never sat well with him. Hux was a very sharp man and he knew something was amiss. Ren being the sole survivor? A girl overpowering Snoke AND the Preatorian guard AND Kylo Ren? It stank of falsehood.
Hux had quietly begun a Top Secret investigation. While the throne room was free of recording devices, the Supreme Leader's private elevator was equipped with cameras. Cameras that had mysteriously been destroyed and files erased.
But nothing is ever truly destroyed in the realm of technology.
And now would be a great time to check in with his covert data forensic team.
—-
"You know," Rey calls out to the obviously annoyed Kylo after overhearing his exchange, "we could kill Hux together."
A swell of affection fills Ren to the brim and he's unable to suppress a smile. She can sense, he feels like no sweeter words had ever been spoken in his life. And the sight of his full, real smile is a surprise that makes her heart pound in a way that has nothing to do with his repeated attempts to decapitate her.
"See, there are things we can agree on," she teased with a smirk.
Kylo bites his lip, repressing that smile that continues to tug at his lips.
"Shut up," he says obviously amused, and he attacks her again.
There is much to do and little time to do it.
Kylo Ren intends on working Rey all night long. And despite his attempts to kill it, hope is growing in his chest. Hope for what, though, he is not sure. Whatever it is, he's decided it will be HIS choice, no one will dictate his destiny any more.