Kylo sat in the broken garden alone, regretting what he had done. For about thirty minutes, Kylo thought about his irresponsible actions and disrespectful attitude. Then he started practicing his apology to Rey, since Kylo never apologized to anyone, besides, of course, Supreme Leader Snoke.
"Rey, I'm sorry for destroying your garden."
No, no. That sounded too father like.
"Hey. I just wanted to say sorry for treating you with disrespect… no…"
That sounded too authoritative.
"Hey, buddy-"
No.
"Screw it. I've been sitting here too long!" Kylo threw his arms up before letting them fall to his sides in defeat. He picked up his metallic helmet and put it on, approaching the hidden base. He took the elevator down, ignoring the stormtroopers saluting him.
Kylo approached Rey's door and knocked. He took his helmet off and patiently waited. He observed the white door and let his eyes follow the grated flooring.
Once the door had opened, he saw a disheveled Rey look at him with her puffy hazel eyes and red nose.
"What do you want?" She spoke, her voice still cracked. Rey was hurt, but she tried to not let Kylo see that. Unfortunately for Rey, Kylo noticed quite easily.
Kylo stood in silence, not knowing what to say. He had never been any good in those type of situations. Even with Snoke, it was hard for Kylo to come up with an apology, or even take the blame.
"I wanted to apologize. I…" Kylo sighed, struggling to put his thoughts into words.
Rey watched him struggle but did nothing about it. She wanted him to suffer from this awkward conversation.
"The way I have been treating you as of late is disrespectful. I wish to treat you as my equal, so I will help rebuild your garden," Kylo told her, now relieved that he finally ended the apology.
Rey kept a straight face, nodding in agreement. "Thank you."
"And about FN-2187-"
"His name is Finn," Rey corrected. "But continue."
"Well, Finn is in the interrogation and will stay there. Snoke's orders. You also can't visit him, but I will try and give you updates on his condition." Kylo explained to Rey calmly.
"Just… make sure they don't kill him. Please?" Rey begged, terrified of what they would do and what had already been done to him.
Kylo could tell Rey cared so much about her friend. "He would've been dead by now. Trust me," Kylo assured Rey, before leaving.
Rey watched Kylo walk nobly down the hall, the thunks of his shoes on the grate flooring growing farther. She was proud of him for owning up to his actions.
Leia was sitting in her chair in disbelief, unable to stand because of the news Poe had given her.
She shook her head before mumbling "I can't believe this. Not only have we potentially lost another friend, but the whole mission may have been jeopardized."
The old woman looked up to Luke and Poe, who stared at her with sadness across their faces. Neither of them liked to see Leia worry like this. It was a strange tone. They saw her all the time as a brave courageous General who was never bothered by anything in her way.
This shed a new light on Leia, making Poe realize that the General had some layers.
Poe cleared his throat before confidently saying "They will be fine, Leia. I'd give them a week before we do anything crucial."
Leia shook her head in disbelief. "It's a risky decision. We could risk it all and go on a full war with the First Order, or there's the off chance that Rey and Finn are okay."
"Rey is still alive. I can sense it," Luke told Leia. That was a lie since Rey was a far distance from the Resistance base.
Leia calmly took a deep breath, hoping to not cry right then and there. She stood up carefully, her entire body shaking as she did so. She made her way to where she and Luke usually stood in front of the holograms.
"What are you doing, Leia?" Luke questioned, standing by her side.
"Waiting for a sign. We will give it two days, but if Rey doesn't call in a few days, we are preparing for flight," Leia decided, looking at all of the information on the holograms.
Rey was in the garden once again, but this time with Kylo. They both pulled up the roots of burned and singed plants, giving the entire garden a whole new look. Kylo felt the rough and coarse soil on his bare hands. It was strange since he would normally wear gloves with his outfit.
Rey glanced over her shoulder, humoring herself with the sight of Kylo Ren, the florist, gardening with little ole' Rey. She admired how gentle he was, even if he was digging up dirt and yanking plants from underneath.
"Am I intruding the gardening club?" The two heard a familiar voice. They both rolled their eyes before glancing over, seeing General Hux stand over them with his dominant pride.
Kylo glanced at Rey, who was sitting on her knees as she stared back at Kylo. "What is it?" Kylo questioned Hux, standing from the ground, now giving his undivided attention.
Hux cleared his throat about to break some news. "Snoke has a mission for us. All of us," he glared at Rey, before looking back at Kylo.
"What is it?" Kylo interrogated, taking a few steps closer to Hux to show his interest.
Hux pointed northeast of their hidden base before saying "There's a rebel base a couple hundred feet from here. We must travel there in an hour to pillage the base of all of its supplies and bring it back for ourselves since our supply will run low soon."
"Why do I have to go?" Rey questioned, pushing herself up from the ground using her knee as leverage. "This sounds like a task for a fleet of stormtroopers."
Hux smirked, looking at Kylo before looking to Rey. "You need to prove yourself to Supreme Leader Snoke."
Kylo looked back at Rey to see a reaction, but she remained unchanged. Rey gave a firm nod to Hux. She noticed that he had blood on his hands, making her eyes narrow. Hux noticed, causing him to turn around and swiftly walk away.
Kylo cleared his throat, catching Rey's attention.
"Should we clean this up and continue another time?"
"Yes," Rey agreed, looking at the mess surrounding them. "I don't believe we need to clean up, though."
Kylo nodded his head affirmatively before walking away from Rey. Not knowing what else to do, Rey jogged to Kylo, walking alongside him.
"When will we train?" Rey questioned.
"Before we leave. Try and get ready within the hour and meet me in the garden. This time, I won't ruin it," Kylo promised.
Rey looked at the ground, remembering the sound of cracking branches and the color being drained out of the flowers from earlier. She decided to put that all behind her since she had other matters to attend to.
Rey changed into her usual set of loose drapey robes, creamy in color, feeling more flexible compared to that white jumpsuit the First Order had given her. She ate a brief snack in the cafeteria, surrounded by several stormtroopers who seemed afraid of her.
She grew self-conscious, overhearing some impressive rumors. She wished some were true.
She ate fast from being uncomfortable, all eyes on her and low whispers and murmurs escaping from lips.
Rey left the cafeteria and went topside to meet Kylo again. Immediately, he wielded his lightsaber. Rey pulled hers out from her belt, activating it so that it sprung to life. They playfully dueled for a few minutes, not trying as hard as they had earlier.
The sun was setting behind the two, having the sabers illuminate the darkness surrounding them. Suddenly, they both heard marching come from the distance. The both of them turned, seeing a whole fleet of stormtroopers start moving northeast.
"Follow me," Kylo ordered Rey, already walking ahead of her. She tried keeping pace with Kylo's large steps, for he was much taller than her.
Kylo and Rey approached Hux, who was conducting the whole team. Hux paid no mind to them, shouting at the troopers "COME ON MEN! YOU HAVE LEGS! USE THEM!"
Hux turned to the duo, immediately eyeing Rey's saber. "You won't be needing that." He handed her a blaster before taking her saber and handing it to Kylo.
Rey tucked the gun into her belt, before Kylo took it right back out, switching the safety on. He handed it back to Rey, who embarrassingly put it back in her belt.
"Anyways," Hux inhaled sharply. "Once we arrive, your duties are to kill at once. Our objective is to kill, loot, and leave. Is that clear?"
"Why do we have to kill?" Rey innocently asked, before looking up to Kylo to jump on her side. He did not and remained silent.
"We kill them so they won't trace us back here. Understood?" Hux snapped at Rey.
Rey just nodded, before leaving Kylo and Hux to walk amongst the stormtroopers.
It took them at least thirty minutes to reach the rebel base, only that it wasn't a base. It was a village combined with a base. It was an odd mix, but that meant that more people would be killed.
Rey stood upon a small hill, watching as the area screamed in horror, bodies dropping, lives being lost.
"What are you doing?!" Hux shouted in Rey's ear. "Shoot!"
"No way. I am not killing when we don't have to!" Rey argued with the General. Hux had about enough with her, so he took his own gun and forced Rey to hold it, manhandling her down the hill. Rey screamed and kicked about, screaming "KYLO!" at the top of her lungs over and over. Hux forced her to point and shoot a mother watching her child flee the scene.
Kylo looked over to see what was happening and watched as Hux forced her to shoot the woman. He saw the light leave Rey's eyes as she watched the mother fall to the ground. He saw her horrified expression: tears in her eyes, jaw dropped, and hopeless.
Rey obviously was not ready for this, and Kylo had found out much too late.
Hux shoved Rey towards the area, only to have her fall on her knees.
"Now you have no witty comebacks, yeah? All talk but no fight in you. You disgust me," Hux grimaced. Hux was about to pull Rey up but was frozen in place. He looked over his shoulder to see Kylo approach him.
Now that Kylo was closer, he saw how shaken poor Rey actually was, the tears streaming down her face.
"Kylo Ren," Hux harshly said, only to be cut off with the force. Kylo didn't force choke Hux, but he made him shut up.
Kylo extended his hand to Rey, who denied it and got up on her own.
"I-I don't need your help," Rey denied coldly. "Go ahead! Kill all of those innocent people. What have they ever done for you, right?"
Rey started to run away from the scene, hearing Kylo shout her name. She ignored him and ran faster.
Kylo finally let go of Hux who was radiating anger off of him.
"How dare you take control of me like that!" Hux snapped. "I was pushing her to the dark side! You ruined that."
"You were being harsh. She isn't ready yet," Kylo watched Rey run from a distance. "I sense it in the force."
In fact, Kylo did not sense it in the force. That was an absolute lie. The truth was, Kylo didn't want Rey to go completely dark side.
Why?
A part of it was because Snoke would value her more than him. The other part was the fact that he felt like she wouldn't survive in the darkness. Much like himself, he had that little bit of light in him that he couldn't exactly get rid of. He feared Rey would have the same issue and felt mixed like he did. He didn't want her to be trapped in the hell of always being unsuccessful at meeting expectations.
Hux glared at Kylo before walking along with his troops. Kylo sadly glared at the darkness that was before him, knowing that Rey was sobbing in there somewhere.
AN: Sorry for the late update guys. I had an essay for college but I'm pretty sure it's the last one for this semester haha.
Special thanks to Breann Hill, Howlingthemoon, and Silverlight0 for reviewing! Your comments mean the WORLD to me 3