SHE DIDN’T FEEL MUCH LIKE A GUEST, NOT WHEN HER WRISTS AND ANKLES WERE CUFFED TO AN INTERROGATION TABLE AND WHEN HER CAPTOR KNELT BEFORE HER CONCEALING HIS FACE. Rey would have been more bitter if she didn’t know how this conversation went, and she went to spit back her response but paused when he stood, no longer seeming small but imposing and his full height.
From where he stood he could loom over her, even as lifted as she was by the table that held her. Her breathing hastened and her eyes dampened with unshed, stinging tears that Rey had to fight back. No. This wasn’t right, he was supposed to take off his mask. She was supposed to see him for the first time, to be assured that her friends were safe.
Rey’s senses tickled in the back of her mind, telling her that it was her thoughts that betrayed her and instead she trembled, not merely playing at the scared captive. If this could be changed, anything could be changed. How could she coax Ben Solo out if he wouldn’t even show her his face? How could he love her if he still considered her his enemy and a threat to all he held close?
IT TOOK HER A FEW LONG MOMENTS OF CONSIDERATION BEFORE SHE SPOKE NEXT, HER VOICE A LITTLE CRACKED. ❝ He’s a BB unit with a selenium drive and a thermal hyperscan vindicator – ❞ It’s a smartass response and she knows it, is fully aware that in the wrong circumstances this could cause him to delve deep into her mind and rip from her the information he sought. But she knew how to shield it, knew how to fight.
❝ Where are the others? Are they safe? ❞ Her gaze flutters up to the mask where he towers over her, and though she knows the answer she steels her eyes and focuses instead on showing him that she is not afraid, that she wants him to be afraid of her. It is silly, really, knowing what she does now, but she has no choice. Every moment ticks over, every little second matters.
She can feel his presence like a live wire, so attuned is her mind to the sensation of Ben in her presence now. Even with her connection to the Force weaker than she was prepared for, she could still feel that fated connection growing stronger with every passing moment and every little word. She could steal him away, take him somewhere to hide. The galaxy could burn and they could be together in another life, in another time. She could choose to have stolen moments with him, but he wouldn’t love her the way her own Ben did. Wouldn’t come to truly see her the way they were supposed to.
❝ Take off the mask to speak to me. Don’t hide behind it like a frightened creature. ❞ There. Perhaps that would set events correct.
HE BIT BACK A SCOFF WHILST THE SCAVENGER BEGAN LISTING OFF BASIC DESCRIPTORS FOR THE DROID. True, he had asked, but her snide loophole antic would not earn his favor. Maybe he had been wrong to take the gentler approach with her, perhaps he should have seen to her akin to the way Poe Dameron had been seen to whilst within his clutches. The Resistance pilot hadn’t been by any means broken, but at the very least Kylo’s delving of his mind hadn’t strayed, hadn’t hesitated, faltered. He found what he desired swiftly.
❝ — and it’s carrying a piece of a navigational chart, ❞ he cut her off, abrupt, cold.
Foolish, perhaps, for him to desire a less intrusive, less cruel method now. He took one more step forward, closer, to shadow her form fully, and began to lift his hand towards her temple — ... only to still the gesture at her question. His gloved hand remained at his side, idle, flexed and then clenched.
❝ So, you still care about them after they’ve abandoned you, is that it ? Why worry about the fates of traitors and thieves... they don’t care about you. They used you. They left you here, ❞ .. they’re not coming to save you.
He needed to stop projecting and FOCUS.
He reached out with his mind, steadily, quietly.
She had a strange air about her the way one could tell of an oncoming storm from the taste of the wind, the gust’s whispering warnings gentle and feeble in comparison to its gradually building gales. Even as she tremored and faltered in her own ways, the fiddling motions, the absence of true fear negated her temporary shivers. She did not fight for her own composure, everything seemed to come as a distant reaction. AS THOUGH SHE WALKED THROUGH LIFE IN A DREAM, as though if he reached out to touch her she would not truly be there, and fingertips would simply wade through the waters of her pooled reflection, illusion, this ethereal force tugging him into the depths. She, a beacon dimly lit, held capacity for further brilliance, further light. A BECKONING CALL...
Her name was Rey. He found it on the tip of his tongue, though he knew realistically that he must have swept it from the edge of her mind. He reached further.
She wanted to run away... together.
A HAND OUTSTRETCHED, A DRAPING FABRIC UP ITS SLENDER FOREARM, WARMTH RADIATING IN LIGHT, A NEARBY FIRE, AND A TEARFUL GAZE.
— leave everything else behind ...
HE WAS REACHING, REACHING, REACHING ...
ACROSS TIME, ACROSS SPACE, ACROSS THE STARS.
Stop now, come back ! I love y —
KYLO REN RETREATED AS SWIFTLY AS HE HAD URGED HIMSELF TO READ HER, TO FOLLOW THE THREAD OF HER AURA, HER MYSTERY, FLINCHING AS THOUGH STARTLED BY AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. One thought reigned, then, as the flow of the Force withdrew.
Her commentary on his mask, however, jarred him out of pure intrigue, and into a more defiant air. Certainly, the strange vision granted to him hadn’t been enjoyable, this fleeting feeling of a mournful loss radiating, too, from her in which he felt undying similarities with... yet, SHE MOCKED HIM. He did not remove it due to her petty remark. Frightened ? Him ?
But he also did not immediately reply, a pause. Contemplative: frightened, was he ? No, she exuded more of a frightened air, he hardly had reason to be... right now. But, perhaps she had seen something he couldn’t, not currently. In fact, she might have, if his vision had been connected to her. And Snoke’s various commentaries revolving around his mask, his hiding, made within its husk a chip in the armor of him. SHE SUCCESSFULLY LANDED A BLOW TO ITS FAULT, albeit it was a delayed feeling of her strike, the way a single tumbling rock atop snowy mountains began an avalanche.
No, he would not hide behind a feeble mask. He did not need it. Not right now.
Kylo Ren regarded his captive silently. Slowly, he reached up and pressed upon the release for his helmet. With a brief hiss, he raised the mask from his head and placed it aside. Immediately, he observed her, curious to see what she’d reveal herself: did she expect him to have the face of a frightened boy ? NO, HE WAS DEVOID, A MAN NUMBED, COLD EYES SHARP AND UNHINDERED IN MEETING HERS NOW.
He used any potential for her to be jolted by his reveal to then raise his hand, gloved fingers stopping their approach a mere breath away from the loose hairs framing the side of her forehead. His gesture sought, shifting the Force to his command, and used its power, its probing strengths, to dive into the depths of her mind.
THE MAP, his intent thrummed within her temples akin to a sweet song, imploring, flooding, surging forth. SHOW ME THE MAP. Onward, he seeped into her thoughts, and submerged.
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