Chapter Twenty-Three: Madman
Rey's hands shook as she pried off the plating on a repair panel in the corner of her room. It was set into the wall by her bed, and she analyzed its contents, looking for any ingress into vital ship systems.
Temperature and gravity controls, lighting, water recycling—all localized to this lone wing of quarters. Rey rifled through rows of wires and servos, her touch frantic.
Her mind moved faster than her fingers, a whirl of panicked rebuke. She'd been playing a dangerous game since waking aboard the shuttle—unaware how truly perilous it was.
She had to get out of here. Kylo Ren was insane. She had known it from the beginning, but baring his face—with its expressions and feelings—had teased the hope he might still be a real, semi-lucid person at his core. Their close call in the shipyard had illuminated how loaded his threats had truly been. His fury in the med-bay had been nothing. Nothing. The man was a murderer, one who didn't blink at inflicting drawn-out torment on non-sentient creatures.
Rey didn't want to fathom why he had allowed her to argue, enduring her comments and judgement instead of simply tearing apart her insides. His motives were as fickle as his self-control, and probably involved sacrificing everything that made her whole. Just like his master had done to him.
She shook her head and stopped rummaging through the access annex. Don't humanize him, she scolded. Kylo Ren wants to inflict the same trauma on you.
She was lucky he hadn't ruptured one of her internal organs in a fit of temper, letting her bleed out for days while sepsis set in. It was only a matter of time before she did something that left her writhing and keening like those poor animals. Their pained cries still echoed in her ears and almost drowned out the sharp knock that suddenly rapped at her door.
Rey rushed to replace the panel, fumbling awkwardly with its top two screws before straightening, blocking it with her body.
The exit slid open, revealing Kylo Ren, sans cape or helmet. "I frighten you," he stated matter-of-factly, wasting no time, ducking into the doorway. "More now, than before." He stopped at her room's threshold. "I can sense it throughout the ship. You've managed to saturate every surface. What made it finally sink in?"
Rey was too nervous to be embarrassed at broadcasting such fear. "I-I just didn't know…," she trailed off, unsure what would cause further offense.
Kylo Ren's gaze grew piercing as he searched her face. "How ruthless I really was?" He finished. The intensity of his stare burned as his mouth turned down. "I take it my display left quite an impression."
She stayed silent, forcing herself not to shrink back.
"Had I known you'd be so easily subdued, I would have procured a batch of lifeforms bent on eating us days ago," he said.
Rey clamped her teeth together, fighting not to disagree. She wasn't 'subdued', she just no longer felt like being so wildly reckless.
Kylo Ren's scrutiny lingered on the planes of her cheeks and jaw, taking in their strained set. "You do realize I killed them to protect us, right?" He asked.
Rey couldn't help herself. "The torture wasn't necessary," she mumbled.
He shrugged. "So, I got carried away by your quaint, little measure of good and bad. Better that, than being dragged back to their saliva-spun nests."
The gorgodons' bloodied, broken bodies swam before her eyes, and Rey squeezed them shut, trying to blot out the memory. "It's not a measure I made up alone. Most of the galaxy adheres to it."
"Not me."
Rey nodded numbly, retreating back a step, bumping into the wall. "Which I fully see now," she murmured.