Duality

Chapter 1

The trees around her fly past like glimpses into some painting of a calmer scene. Her feet pound the earth like a wild rabbit's, jagged and unstable. Jump over the rock. Dodge the branch. She stops for a moment behind a large trunk, catching her breath. Her lungs burn like they're filled with lit coal. In. Out. In. Out.

Her breathing slows. She feels something in her hair and reaches up to remove a small twig from the tresses. Such a simple act in such a dangerous time. It felt unnatural. She wondered how close they were; how the battle was progressing. She needed to head back. For Han. For Finn. It was the right thing to do. The sentiment was almost visceral.

She turns around from the tree to the sight of two Stormtroopers rushing in her direction. White splashes venomous against the sea of green. She jerkily raises the blaster and fires. Miss. She fires again. The bolt of pure energy slices through the gap between the soldier's helmet and chestplate and flies into the distance behind. He falls to the earth with a wild yell, writhing like a worm. His companion stops, crouches and begins to shoot, a volley of beams that split the vegetation and air around her. She rolls away, her instincts taking over. The blaster in her hand rises of its own accord, and the other soldier falls to the ground, a smoking hole in his helmet.

Kill or be killed. Kill...

She starts to make her way forward when a strange sensation erupts along her spine. Something is there, around her. Something powerful. She doesn't understand how she knows, but she does. Whirling around, she scans the trees quickly. Nothing. The presence grows stronger, but she still sees nothing.

And then all of a sudden he's there. Like a wraith from some hellish dimension, tall and menacing and draped in black. A mask sits upon his face, glaring impassively at her. The face of Death. It is him. The one she who had only existed to her in story and myth. She opens her mouth to scream but nothing but a dry hiss of hot air emits. She jerks up the blaster and squeezes the trigger, and in horror she watches as the bolts come to a standstill between her and him before flying off into the distance. The blaster is abruptly ripped from her hand and disassembled in the air before her in a few short moments. She turns to run but finds herself unable to move, held ramrod straight by some unknowable iron force.

She is rotated to face him against her will. He hasn't restricted the use of her vocal chords so she opens her mouth to tell him that he's nothing. That he's going to lose. Her own voice sounds humiliatingly panicked to her ears. He laughs from beneath the mask, a metallic huff that comes in bursts. He takes a few steps towards her and stops.

"So, you're the girl I've heard so much about. It's a shame we have to meet on these terms."

She says nothing, biting her tongue. Defiance wells up in her like a possessive spirit.

Three Stormtroopers burst through the trees to their right, and he waves them down with a lift of his hand.

He turns back to her. "Where is the droid?"

She spits on the ground. "Like hell you're going to find out!"

He laughs again. She hates it. Like a rusty hiss. It makes her bones crawl.

"So fiery," he drawls. "I like that."

He raises his right hand, fingers outstretched, and she begins to feel a prickle at the base of her neck. Her mind is suddenly encumbered with a foreign presence. Heavy, sharp. The presence starts worming its way through her head, and her thoughts fly by in a scramble. She tries to fight it, but it is futile. He is just too strong. It stops just as abruptly as it had begun. He found what he was looking for.

"You have seen the map," he murmurs. Her eyes widen.

He jerks his head to the Storm Troopers. "Forget the droid. We have what we need."

He looks at her for a long time, what feels like an eternity. And then it all goes black.

oOoOoOo

Light dances on her closed eyelids and she raises her hands to rub them. They fail to move. Her eyes fly open, and she is blinded by a harsh overheard light that ruthlessly burns her retinas. After squeezing them shut for several moments, she tries to scan her surroundings.

The battle comes rushing back to her. The Stormtroopers. The realization that she had killed. Killed a living being. Beings. Two creatures with names. With memories. They were just...gone. At her hand.

Then him. The man of such dark might. Their short conversation sparked by blaster shots. And then…nothing.

A voice from her right causes her frenzied head jerking to cease.

"Don't flail about in such a way," it says smoothly. It is elegant, poised. "Might break your neck, and you are entirely too valuable.

The voice's owner steps into her gaze, commanding and unemotional. She feels a rage crawl up her insides, a tempest of fire.

"You," she bites out, her lips curling.

He scoffs. "Who else?"

She bares her teeth at him. "Come to finish off what you started? Why don't you take off that mask? Or are you incapable of not hiding behind that piece of metal?"

She's surprised when her demand is rewarded with the raising of two long-fingered hands. They come up to the underside of the helmet and press two buttons. The mask detaches, and he begins to pull it off. Her mouth twists into a frown when she imagines what she is about to see. A mass of scars. Disfigurement. A monster.

Her mouth almost falls open when man's handsome face emerges from the mask. He is young, looks close to her age. She knows he cannot be as young as she, but there is an unfailing youth about him. Features powerful and long, a large nose beset by two deep russet eyes. There is Han there, and Leia, but something totally different, too. Something unique and proud. She feels the prick of a hotness in her lower abdomen and immediately is disgusted when she realizes its desire. She crushes it immediately.

She smirks when he notices what had played across her features. His eyes slowly rake her features, and she feels her cheeks burn. Gods, he wouldn't do that, would he? Fear courses through her veins.

"Do you know who I am?" he asks, meeting her eyes.

She sneers. "Of course I do. You're Kylo Ren. A villain and a coward."

His eyebrows dart together for a second, but then he smiles like the embodiment of mockery and walks over to her. Stops a foot from her imprisoning chair. To her surprise, he kneels. His face level with hers.

"You are strong, Rey." She tenses at the use of her given name. "You don't know the extent of your power. You have never felt this before, have you?"

She doesn't know what to say. He's tricking her, playing with her mind. She won't give him a thing.

"Shut up!" she barks. "I won't give in to your head games!"

His hand glides up to her face and she doesn't move. She wouldn't show him she was afraid. He would know she was strong. Gloved fingertips gently come to rest against her cheek and temple.

"You're a scared girl, Rey," he intones, eerily calm. She feels him inside her head again. "I've seen you in solitude on Jakku. The loneliness. The need for someone. I've seen it all. You want to belong."

She tries to resist him as angry tears spring up at the corners of her eyes. "You don't know me at all; you're evil, cruel, a monster…"

He cuts her off. "Rey, I can train you. Han, them, they know nothing. I will help you harness your abilities. There will be no more holes in your heart. Follow me into the Dark, and I will be your guide."

His words are so beautiful to her, like candies from a tree of snakes. She had felt the Light in her before, but now she feels its twin. The Dark nudges against her soul, wrapping its heavy tendrils around it, beckoning to her. She knows it is not what she wants, but she cannot help the tiny urge to give in to the seduction. It is so sweet, and so alluring.

But it is not her. She summons her energy and pushes back against him. His grip on her face becomes tight, rough.

"Get out of my head," she hisses. "I will never join you. You're a disgusting fiend."

"Rey," he warns. "Join me, and together we will accomplish things the universe has never seen before. I need that map, Rey. Give me the map."

"NO!" she shouts, and pushes him away with her mind. She feels a ragged thought, foreign and dark, slip into her mind. His thought. "You will never be as strong as Vader!"

He recoils like he'd been struck. He leaps to his feet and draws his lightsaber, face a twisted vengeful distortion. An orange beam erupts into life in the room, and he brings it an inch from her neck. The heat emanating from it is unbearable, and she squirms away.

"Never speak of him," he growls. She sees in his eyes a mortal rage, all-consuming. For the first time, she realizes he is human. Deep down, he isn't a destructive machine. There is emotion, and there is pain.

"Kylo," she says, and his eyes widen slightly. His name tastes like honey on her tongue. "You aren't evil. Let me go. I can take you back to your parents. All will be well."

He falters for a split-second, a strange look passing through his eyes. Through his Dark, she senses the vestiges of the Light. It is there. He suppresses it.

And then he laughs. This time, however, there is no metallic ring. It is deep and rich, though sinister. She finds it almost…musical. She chides herself. He is the enemy.

"I appreciate the foolish sentiment, Rey," he drawls. "And the amusement from your delusion that you could sway me. Think about what I have said to you."

And with that, he was gone.