Chapter Text
Rey often finds herself meditating in the forest of Ajan Kloss, searching for answers within the Force, or practicing her lightsaber forms with a training droid. Most of all, she longs to one day connect with the Jedi of the past, hoping that they can give her answers about the galaxy and her place in it. She's read all of the Jedi texts front to back but she still has trouble making sense of it all.
Currently she’s high in the air with rocks floating around her in the circle, concentrating all her energy on reaching out. She repeats her usual mantra in an eerily calm voice, almost a trance. “Be with me… be with me… be with me.”
“Do you honestly think they’ll answer you this time?”
The familiar voice breaks her concentration, sending her crashing to the ground along with all the rocks. Instinct causes her hands to jut out in front of her, the Force thankfully kicking in at the right moment to stop her from hitting the forest floor. She hovers just a few inches from the ground before letting herself gently land.
Looking up in annoyance, she finds him standing there between the trees. She gets to her feet and reaches back to put her hand on the saber she recently repaired with help from the Jedi texts. The crystal sparks sometimes from the crack, causing the blade to fizzle a little too much like Kylo’s red crossblade for her liking, but it’s fixed and it works.
“Go away.”
Her command doesn’t faze him in the slightest. He looks around even though she knows he can’t see her surroundings. “Where’s my mother decided to hide now?”
“I’ll never tell you.”
Kylo takes a step closer to her, but Rey keeps her ground. She hasn’t been afraid of him in a long time. They've been inside each others' mind too long for fear or intimidation to work.
“My forces will find the Resistance eventually. Don’t get caught on the losing side, Rey.”
There’s an edge to his voice when he says her name, almost daring as if to caress the word, but she elects to ignore it. She needs to keep up the role of adversaries. “I’d rather be on the losing side than the wrong one.”
He readjusts his jaw like he normally does when he’s embarrassed and she knows she hit a nerve.
Kylo gets a glint in his eyes as he changes his tactic. “I’m going to take a guess that you’re not aware of what happened as you’re still searching the Force for the Jedi.”
His switch in conversation just causes her confusion. She doesn’t want to play into his little game, but she can’t deny that he didn’t make her curious. “Aware of what?”
The glint gets bigger knowing he’s caught her in the trap. He just has to reel her in. “You must be pretty far out in the galaxy for it to not reach you.” Kylo tries to keep the smirk from his face, but he can feel it getting bigger.
Rey’s annoyance grows in tandem with his smirk. “What are you talking about?”
“The message.” They start to slowly move, circling each other in the intricate dance they’ve both grown accustomed to with each other.
She’s really getting tired of his vague answers, her anger starting to bubble up inside and she hates that he knows it. “What message?”
Kylo suddenly stops and stares straight at her, that roguish smirk he got from his father still faintly upon his face. “He’s back.”
The way he says it unnerves her. “Who? Who’s back?”
“Emperor Palpatine himself.”
The mere idea is so preposterous that she can’t help but let out a airy laugh in disbelief. “You’re lying.”
His face gets serious and he takes a step closer to her causing her to have to look upwards. “I’ve never lied to you.”
Rey has no reply. She knows he’s right.
“Besides… I’ve seen him with my own eyes.”
She shakes her head. “That’s impossible,” she replies in a quiet tone.
All he does is tilt his head to the side in a way that’s reminiscent of Han. “Maybe. But it’s true nonetheless.”
She decides to venture into his information. If he is telling the truth she needs to know more. “Why’s he back?” she asks, looking at him cautiously but with curiosity.
The smirks makes its way back onto his face as his only answer is to faintly shrug his shoulders. He stands there tall and smug knowing that he’s got her where he wants her. At this moment he has her pulled in and he’s the only one who can answer the questions he knows she's just yearning to ask.
Rey decides she’s done with his coyness. Grabbing the saber, she ignites it down at her side, her annoyance fully bubbling over. “Why is he back, Kylo?”
Quickly, he rushes forward within a foot of her and grabs her shoulders. “Join me, and I’ll tell you.”
Through pure instinctual reaction, Rey swings her saber through him but she’s only met with air as he vanishes from her sight. “BEN!” she screams in anger. Birds flutter away, scared by the sudden noise.
She stands there breathing hard in annoyance when her saber crackles once down by her side pulling her from her thoughts of the encounter. Rey extinguishes her saber and places it back on her belt.
His newfound information circles round and round in her head. She starts to race back to camp. If Palpatine truly is back Leia needs to know. The Resistance needs to do something before he gets to the First Order.
She reaches the base just as Poe is walking down the ramp of the Falcon, determination in his eyes as he makes his way straight to Leia. The sight of him brings her back to reality.
She can’t tell anyone.
If she does, they’ll wonder how she knows. And she can’t tell them the answer. They can never know.
So she keeps it to herself. Hopefully the intel that Finn and Poe went to get was the same exact message.
Notes:
I can't believe I forgot to ever post this *face palm*
Chapter 2: Pasaana
Notes:
I've changed minute details just to make the story make more sense because I hate how Palpatine's goal suddenly changes halfway through the movie, so in this he just wants her for some reason that Kylo doesn't know
He's also not wearing that dumb mask
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Rey can’t help but get lost in the happiness and laughter as she walks around the festival looking for a clue. The whole tribe of Aki-Aki are alive in the spirit, dancing as they celebrate the holiday.
Twinkling giggles cause her to turn her head, her eyes catching a group of small children all enjoying the story they’re being told. It makes her mourn the childhood that had been robbed from her when her parents left. But it also makes her feel something she can’t quite place. Something more on the other spectrum of life than childhood.
A touch breaks her from her thoughts. Looking down she finds one of the Aki-Aki children tugging on her arm. Rey kneels down to be at eye level. The alien says welcome in her native tongue and tells Rey her name as Threepio translates. The young child then places an intricately beaded necklace over her head. Rey suspects it’s a fertility necklace of some sort.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you. I’m Rey.”
She says something again that Rey doesn’t understand so Threepio explains that the child would be honored to know her family name.
It shakes Rey for a moment. She doesn’t know how to reply, or moreso doesn’t really want to but she obliges the youngling. “I don’t have one. I’m just Rey.” She tries her hardest to give a convincing smile as to not show the hurt she’s actually feeling from the question.
It doesn’t seem to faze the little girl as she seemingly believes in Rey’s smile. The child then takes her hand, saying something about dancing and pulls her into the thick of the crowd.
Rey isn’t quite sure of the dance but attempts it nonetheless to please the girl and actually finds herself getting lost in the excitement of it all. The tribe is rejoicing in the festival of the ancestors as well as praying for the new generations. Different members try to show her the dance and engage with her, spinning her around them, just thrilled that she’s partying with them. The laughter bubbles up out of her, beginning to really enjoy the experience.
She starts to get a little dizzy, members spinning her from person to person, but she’s having too much fun that she doesn’t care at the moment. All thoughts of a mission have abandoned her, just letting her be Rey for the first time in forever. Rey without the responsibilities of saving the galaxy and ending the war. In this moment, there is no war. She can just relax and have fun. And it’s thrilling.
Someone spins her out a little too far and she bumps into someone’s chest with a thud. The stranger catches her, making sure she steadies on her feet.
“I’m so sorry,” she says quickly before looking up.
Seeing who caught her, she tries to tug her arms away, but he resists, just grabbing her hands and starting to dance.
“Don’t react. Wouldn’t want to make a scene now would we?”
His voice has that smugness that always makes her annoyance start to bubble and she can feel the smirk forming on his face. She looks around suddenly concerned with the crowd. “Can they see you?”
“I don’t know. Can they? Or are you dancing by yourself?” Kylo tilts his head to the side, smirk growing a little wider. He always has a bit of fun teasing her. They continue to dance around the people, Rey looking cautiously around to see if anyone is staring.
“What do you want, Kylo?”
He decides to be blunt. “Palpatine wants you,” he states in a hushed tone.
His answer makes her eyebrow raise. “Working for another master now, are you?”
Rey watches as he readjusts his jaw, something that she has noticed is a common occurrence when being challenged.
“I have other plans.”
Kylo decides to change tactics. He knows he needs to reach deeper inside her mind to get the result he wants. “I offered you my hand. I know you wanted to take it.” His eyes begin to soften despite his face remaining stoic. “Why didn’t you?” he asks quietly, his voice brimming with emotion.
“You had the chance to kill me. Why didn’t you ?” she counters back.
He looks deep within her eyes, catching her off guard slightly, but she remains strong.
Rey’s tired of talking about the past. He has information she needs and she’s determined to get it. “Why does he want me?” she asks, changing the conversation.
“I don’t know,” he replies, still dancing her around the festival. No one’s caught on if he’s here or not. “But I do know that you’re feeding into his plans by finding a map to get to him all by yourself.”
She juts her chin up, looking into his eyes defiantly. “I’m not alone.” Poe, Finn, and Chewie are all with her, helping her with this mission. She chooses that particular wording because she knows the reference will cut into him.
His eyes soften. They make their way along every inch of her face, almost as if memorizing it and it throws Rey for a minute.
“No…” The word comes out in barely a whisper.
Both of them can’t help but be thrown into memories of that night in the hut. Everything that happened and everything they saw flooding back into their minds. Quickly as it came, both brush it away. There’s no time for mourning what could’ve been.
Kylo pulls them to a screeching stop. Rey would’ve flown sideways if it had not been for him holding onto her tightly, making sure she doesn’t fall. He looks piercingly down into her eyes in a way that would frighten her if she didn’t know the inner workings of his soul.
“You can’t hide, Rey. Not from me.” He brings her closer to his chest, his voice becoming quieter. More intimate. “I will find you. When I offer you my hand again, you’ll take it.”
She raises her face closer to his, not allowing him to intimidate her. “We’ll see,” she says in almost a cutting whisper.
Suddenly he rips the necklace from around her, holding it tightly in his fist. His eyes widen in a roguish manner. “Thanks for the location.” He spins her away with a thrust of his hand.
Rey quickly turns back around only to find that he’s vanished into thin air. Her hand comes up around where the necklace had previously been hanging from. He’s coming. She needs to go warn Poe and Finn. Running off, she goes to find them. They need to leave as soon as the can.
Notes:
hissterically on twitter
kylosroboarm on tumblr
MFA101 on Chapter 1 Tue 03 Mar 2020 01:57PM UTC
Comment Actions