Chapter Ten: The Darkness
"Where are we going?" Rey asked from the other side of the med-bay window, making a face at the clothes she'd been provided, her own ruined beyond repair. They were a simple ensemble, a top and pants with the tightness of a jumpsuit, meant to be worn under stormtrooper armor.
So black, of course.
From the hall, Kylo Ren ignored her, eyeing the second helping of food she'd refused.
"What are you planning for me?" She tried next, pressing the patient communication pad that sent her voice out beyond the room. "Stringing me up in front of a First Order firing squad?"
"Eventually," he returned flatly, touching his own panel.
"And in the meantime?"
"I'm going to bury you alive in uneaten provisions while your body consumes itself."
The pithy response took a moment to register, and Rey frowned when it did.
Jokes? She bristled. Is this a game to him?
She hoped he hadn't noticed she wasn't standing upright on her own, needing to lean against the edge of the bed to keep her feet. A meal would certainly help her tenuous stamina, but she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction.
"What a fascinating study in stubbornness," Kylo Ren continued from the corridor, clearly seeing her reliance on the bed. "Your idiotic refusal to submit overrides all sense of self-preservation. Quite a marvel of foresight and 'big picture' thinking."
The sarcasm made her want to curl her hands around his throat. "Is it working?" She quipped, struggling to check her temper. This wasn't the time to lose her head.
"Not enough to warrant the decline of your remaining muscle mass."
Rey felt his stare drift over her arms and torso, lingering on her subtle seat.
"Stop," she growled.
His mask turned to the untouched lunch. "Then make me." It was obvious he referred to rebuilding her physical strength, but she had other ideas.
Rey stretched an arm out for the Force, and anger summoned the ripples to her fingers without effort. They had a new edge to them, impatient and greedy, and swirled into a turgid frenzy that felt shockingly alien.
Kylo Ren palmed the glass separating them. "Yes," he urged, suddenly eager. "Feed your hate, let it grow. Feel how easy it makes everything."
Rey could feel the energy in her hand. It pulsed with demand, like something she couldn't contain, something about to break free. A very different experience than begging it out of the air.
"You see?" Kylo Ren's dark helmet bobbed from the hall. "Keep going."
"Why? What is this?" She asked. A note of warning rose dimly above the pulse. It had spread past her elbow, causing her forearm to shake. She let go of the bedside panel and grabbed the end of the mattress to anchor herself.
"Use your anger against me," he coaxed. "Free yourself. Take control of the ship."
Rey's whole arm was vibrating now, and the power was starting to sting. It wasn't like when she'd influenced her guard, or found the charges—there was a hunger, a demand for more—and it hurt to deny it.
"Good." He brought a second hand to the glass. "Give in. You and I will hunt down Skywalker together."
She could hear his excitement, and she sobered at once. This was the darkness Maz had spoken of. Nothing Kylo Ren approved of led to good things. Closing her eyes, Rey let her enmity bleed away. The sting faded. Dropping her hand into her lap, she studied it cautiously, testing each finger, bending them one at a time, unsure if the energy lingered.
The door opened in a rush, and Kylo Ren swept in, fists throttled at his sides.
"What are you doing?!" The question came out garbled through his mask's modulator. "Don't turn away from such power!"
Rey didn't move except to lift her head. She took in his loss of composure. His cloak was askew, tangled around an arm, and his wide shoulders heaved with ragged breaths. She stared at his visor, trying to imagine the eyes behind it. "Is that what happened when you were still Han Solo's son?" She asked. "You couldn't turn away?"
The sounds of respiration in his modulator stilled.
"Is it really power if it's so easy?" She braved. "If you can't resist and just—."
Kylo Ren interrupted by lifting a finger, choking off the end of her sentence. Rey felt an unseen pressure coil around her neck. Tugged by an overhead noose, she was pulled from the bed, rising up on her tiptoes as weight left her heels.
"Power enough to suffocate you right here," he declared idly. His impassive calm was back in place, and it was far scarier than his storming entrance. Fear made her heart start to pound.
Kylo Ren kept one finger aloft while he flipped his cape-covered arm free and smoothed the front of his uniform. Rey gasped as the invisible noose tightened, closing around her throat.
He wagged the finger. "I have killed many for saying much less." His voice dropped low. "You would be wise keeping such commentary to yourself."
Rey grabbed at her neck, teetering to remain on the ground. She couldn't breathe.
He stepped closer. "Perhaps a more lasting demonstration is needed?"
She tried shaking her head, but only managed to jerk her chin.
"Does the desert rat see now?" A trace of anger pierced his calm. "Solo's son is dead," he spat. "And now I'll show you why Kylo Ren is the most hated, feared man in the galaxy."