"You're Not Alone"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 9

Rey crept among the trees, blaster darting back and forth, her heart racing. Something was here. Her breath felt stuck in her throat as she struggled to hold the blaster steady, wishing she could pretend that she didn't hear that low hum in the distance.

"Bit more to it than that," Han had said. Why, why why didn't she ask Han to teach her everything she needed to know about using a blaster? Why didn't she anticipate that she'd be needing it now?

The hum grew louder, persistently growing under the forest's silence. Suddenly Rey found herself wishing she was back in the desert, where she could see what was in the distance. Here, the massive trees could be hiding anything.

She took a step backwards, another, another, keeping the blaster pointed at the hum . . .

And then it emerged.

The same black robes, the same expressionless mask, the same flaming sword.

The figure that stalked Jakku.

. . .

Kylo had never been more grateful for the mask than he was right now.

The girl who worked with the traitor to smuggle the map to the Resistance.

The girl he'd known his whole life, his only friend in the whole galaxy.

One and the same.

So many times he had imagined the first time when he and Rey would meet for the first time in person. He'd thought they would smile at each other, maybe even embrace, and then he would take her away from her situation and they'd start a new life together.

But instead, she was shooting at him.

He waved his lightsaber around, blocking her shots, grinding his teeth behind his mask. How dare she! Couldn't she sense who he was? Even though she'd run from him every time they'd linked when he was masked, this time they were together! She had to know!

Damn her.

Another shot, another, another as she backed away from him. Finally, he'd had enough – he stuck out his hand and immobilized her with the Force.

"The girl I've heard so much about," he said in a cold voice. Fine, let her think he was a stranger. Maybe this was even preferable to seeing her horror upon realizing who he was.

She stared at him, her eyes bulged, her mouth agape, her body shaking against his invisible grasp.

He stepped closer and closer, gazing into her brown eyes through his mask – the eyes that were so often filled with longing and loneliness, now only expressing shock and fear. "The droid," he said, thankful for the voice synthesizer, "where is it?"

He raised the lightsaber to her throat, letting her feel the lethal blade's heat. "Where is it?" he repeated.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said between pants.

She always was brave, even as a child. "Be warned," Kylo said slowly, "if you won't give me what I need, I can take it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she repeated.

His teeth ground again. Fine. If she was going to be that way, she'd face the consequences. He stretched his hand out, reaching into her mind, ignoring how she flinched . . .

There was the lounge of the Millennium Falcon, there was the traitor, there was Han Solo . . .

There was the droid projecting the map!

"The map . . . you've seen it."

"Sir!" a stormtrooper called, jolting Kylo out of the vision. "Resistance fighters, we need more troops!"

Kylo could have strangled the trooper right then and there, but he had more pressing matters. "Pull the division out," he said calmly. "Forget the droid. We have what we need." With that, he waved his hand over Rey's head, knocking her out with the Force. Her limp body collapsed into his arms, and the first thought that came into his head was how light she was.

Damn whoever raised her and starved her. As soon as Kylo found out who that person was, they would get a lightsaber through the chest.

As he carried her through the forest, Kylo's heart raced. The memories of carrying her when she was sunburned and then later when she was injured poked their way into his head. But this time, she was really here. They were together.

Finally, they could start a new life.

. . .

It was as if the world under Han was crumbling.

His lips trembled, his vision blurred, a hard lump rose in his throat at the black-clad figure carrying Rey's unconscious form to the TIE Fighter. The back of his mind shouted to do something, anything, don't let Rey be taken, but his body was frozen.

Ben . . .

Just thinking the name sent him into a daze. Behind his blinks he saw his little boy, giggling, skipping, smiling. He saw himself picking his boy up, kissing his cheek, laughing along with him. No, no, this wasn't him, it couldn't be . . .

It wasn't . . .

Ben.

My son.

. . .

Rey jolted awake, remembering nothing for a moment before she realized she couldn't move. She glanced downwards, seeing that her hands and feet were trapped in large metal binders, strapping her to an inclined table of some kind. The binders dug into her wrists and ankles, scraping her skin, bringing sharp, stinging pain.

And the figure from Jakku was staring at her.

She looked at the figure with disgust, trying not to think about how long it might have been staring at her while she was unconscious. "Where am I?"

The figure kept staring. "You're my guest."

Was this some feeble attempt at humor? "Where are the others?" Don't let the masked thing see any fear, don't let it see any fear . . .

"You mean the murderers, traitors, and thieves you call friends? You'll be relived to hear I've no idea."

Rey wanted to lash out at the figure, scream at it for calling Finn and Han murderers, but doing so would be showing vulnerability, giving it power over her.

It also occurred to her that she had no reason to believe that the figure was telling the truth. Finn and Han could be in cells right next to hers, strapped to tables just like this one, and BB-8 could be . . .

No, no, they were all right, she had to believe that for now.

Now the masked face was cocking its head, almost as if it were amused. "You still want to kill me?"

"That happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask who's been stalking your planet for years," Rey grunted.

"I've never been to your planet," said the figure.

"Liar! I see you there all the time!"

"I don't even know which planet you're from," the figure insisted in a steady voice.

"Liar," Rey repeated, even though part of her knew it wasn't wise to provoke the figure. "You're nothing but a liar who's afraid to show his face."

It was small, subtle, but she saw the figure's head tilt backwards just a bit, as if something she said had struck a nerve. "You want me to take the mask off? You won't like what you see if I do."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

The figure leaned forward, staring into Rey's eyes through those emotionless black panels. "I mean it. You won't like what you see."

If she weren't experiencing the situation herself, Rey might have thought it ludicrous that they were discussing masks in an interrogation chamber. "Go ahead," she said. "Take it off."

The figure finally relented, reaching up and gripping the mask . . .

And everything within Rey seemed to shatter.

The face under the mask.

The face she'd known since childhood.

"Ben?"