ā HIT ME WITH THAT DARLING REN & DREAM (did i surprise you i SWITCHED IT UP)
The hair whipped around his face, the wind a hollow shriek in the metal bay of the ship. It was so loud he almost couldnāt hear himself think. He didnāt need to though, because something else was calling him. He turned his head, vision almost obscured by his own hair for a moment.
When he could make out the figures against the opposite wall, he narrowed his eyes. The girl and the boy, so familiar to him, and yet altogether foreign. An immediate bubbling of loathing in his stomach. Kylo turned to face them before looking just beyond them, through the arched doors.
His body drained pale, and he unconsciously moved back. The older man and woman watching him looked weathered by the years. Not at all how he left them. Their faces coloured with familiarity, despite his oath to never see them again. The woman looked at him like a treasure long abandoned, and the manā the man just looked sad. Torn beyond years.
Something in him shuddered, threatening to break, but he shut his eyes, barring every feeling. And for a moment, it worked. But the overwhelming call broke through again, spreading within his chest. He opened his eyes. They were still watching, waiting.
He took a few unsettled steps forward, almost realizing what he was doing. But he hesitated, a dark feeling creeping up his spine, lacing around his neck like a noose. He shivered, canting his head back as the cold anesthesia replaced the light, seeping into his bones.
The floor shifted, tilting with a metal creaking sound, and he felt his feet slide. He opened his eyes. The ship was sinking. He had no more time to wait. He glanced behind him as the floor tilted again, then made his choice, moving towards the man and woman waiting for him. He could even forget the loathing heād felt for the boy and girl.
Kylo had almost crossed the threshold when the girl gave a shout. Her fingers dug into the boyās leather jacket, dragging him up and away, gaze over Kyloās head.
He spun, the wind roaring in his ears again as he caught sight of a manā creatureā on a walkway. Its face was red, all features gone, smoothed out and over, patterned in horns and mouths. The creature watched him, then slowly drew a sword, pointing it at him, a call to arms.
Kylo drew his own. He didnāt run. He never ran.
It dropped from the walkway to meet him on the slanted ground, moving into a bound once it was steady on its feet. He didnāt hesitate, pushing forward to meet him. He had the advantage of being on higher ground and met it in the middle, sword swinging over his head and low to catch metal near the hilt, leveraging both their swords up and forward to force it to stumble back.
There was a long, drawn out moment of pause before metal hit metal again, friction making a stinging sound, blades flashing as they rapidly swung to try to throw the other off, skating across the floor.
The other was faster than him, and Kylo was having trouble keeping up to block the strikes.Ā He could match it in power, but eventually the other pinned him. He was forced in a defensive stance, his body struggling to hold off the creatureās sword.
The creature had no eyes, but Kylo could feel a gaze boring into him, menace radiating from the patterned skull. He didnāt break the gaze, throat convulsing as he grit his teeth, trying to put force into already straining muscles to stop his backwards bend.
The eyes held gaze with him for a long moment, then tracked to those behind him. Kylo felt the creatureās aura darken considerably, and then the pressure on the sword loosened. He was allowed to straighten, no longer under assault, and it startled him. He halted for a moment, confused, until he realized that the other was no longer focusing on him.
In fact, it was focusing on the boy and girl, the man and woman, and he felt the gaze return to him, almostā¦ inviting? He understood. But he had no desire to cooperate.He stepped in front of the creatureās gaze again, blocking them from view. He made his choice.
The creatureās aura spiked again, hazard dripping in every bone, and the sword was swinging again.
Kylo was barely prepared to catch the blade, his sword taking the damage, but position broken from the intensity of the swing.
He stumbled to the side, catching himself, throwing his sword up to block another swing as the barrage came again. The creature was circling him now, using every strike to force him to take a step sideways or backwards.
Kylo realized too late that it was effectively cutting him off from the only safe exit, driving him towards the open end of the ship. He redoubled his efforts, but he was failing. His stamina was flagging, breathing ragged, and the ship was still tilting beneath them.
He was losing endurance when he finally caught an opening as the creatureās foot slipped. He swung, aiming for the its side, when a sudden shriek pierced his ears, vision whiting out.
He tried to move, but pain ripped through his chest, blooming through the sudden numbness his body was gripped with. Brown eyes tried to focus down at the hilt between his ribs, breathless and floating.
His eyes traced up to the creature, echos of images swimming in view, and he felt his knees begin to buckle. A foot dug against his stomach, and he was wrenched from the only thing keeping him upright.
He was falling backwards before he even hit his knees, taken by the slant of the ship. He could feel the agony in his chest dulling, calming, and then he hit the water.
The water swallowed him up whole, covering him like a dark blanket, and then he was gone.
He sat bolt upright in bed, shaking and dripping in sweat. Tangled up in his blanket, hair damp and corded, he fought his way out, wrenching to his feet. His head whipped around in the dark, paranoia on high alert.
The feeling of being watched was still with him, every hair on his neck prickling. He groggily dragged into the bathroom, fumbling with the light switch. His hips hit the the counter, hands white-knuckling the edge, shoulders squared as he tried not to buckle.
āDammit,ā he hissed, jaw tense from clenching his teeth. He hadnāt had a dream in years. The last one heād had wasā¦ with his uncle.
Dark-rimmed eyes flicked up to the mirror, meeting his own gaze, feeling unnerved for once in his life. Things were shifting, he could just feel it. Something had set in motion. For certain something had awakened. Kylo needed to be sure he stopped it.
