The weather is always wet and cool here. The exact opposite of Jakku. Who knew that she would miss the dry desert heat so much? For years, Rey had dreamt of two things: finding her family and leaving Jakku. And on a random unexpected day, one of those dreams had come true.

It had all happened so fast. Rey had been at the Niima trading post selling scrap with the foundling BB8 unit trailing along when Finn had appeared with the First Order hot on his heels. Then Rey had stolen a ship out of desperation and it had led them to the notorious smuggler Han Solo with his sidekick wookiee. Altogether, they had ended up at a dive bar on Takodana, and that's when things had really taken a turn for the worse.

Rey had touched a long dead Jedi's lightsaber and it had triggered a chain of events she still doesn't quite understand. Within minutes after her terrifying Force vision, she had been hunted in the woods by the monstrous creature in a mask she had just hallucinated. And that's when things had sped up even faster, spiraling fast out of control once she was captured. There had been a contest of wills with the monster himself but she had escaped. And then everywhere she turned, Rey again saw the monster. At the oscillator killing Han Solo, who in a weird coincidence turns out to be the monster's estranged father. And again, in the woods hurting Finn and throwing her hard into a tree. Rey had beaten the monster and escaped. But just barely.

And then she had ended up here. On a desolate island on a cold, damp planet with an old man who mutters to himself and talks to birds like they are his friends. Luke Skywalker once was a great hero and the galaxy's new hope. But now he is focused within and not without, hidden in self-imposed exile while war rages in his absence. The Jedi is still everyone's hope only this time he has refused to answer the call to arms. And that makes Rey wonder whether he is still a hero.

Rey knows that Master Luke had argued repeatedly with the General when Rey had returned to the Resistance with news of his refusal. In the end, the Jedi had been persuaded to train Rey in the ways of the Force. But the Jedi had not been persuaded to return to the fight. But it was something at least, and so General Organa had wished Rey luck and sent her back.

It is now many months later and Rey can feel the Force but not control it. She is a lackluster student and her Master is a reluctant teacher. His heart isn't in it and Rey too has doubts. And so, little progress has been made. Master Luke wants to focus on knowledge of the Force and the wisdom of why and how to use it. But Rey would prefer to expand her repertoire of skills. And besides, she knows when to use the Force-the next time she sees the monster. For there will be a next time.

Yes, Rey has doubts. Nagging, persistent doubts. Especially on days like today when Rey is tired of being cold and wet. Impatient with her exercises and befuddled by her distant, quiet Master. Grown bored of walking the small island as he lectures and she listens.

"Why do you live here alone?" Rey had asked Master Luke that first week.

"Here there are no distractions from the Force. I can focus."

"Oh."

Life for the Jedi Master on Ahch-To seems far lonelier than life had been for Rey on Jakku. She cannot fathom how anyone would voluntarily seclude themselves in this manner. Loneliness hurts, Rey knows from long experience. So she asks, "Don't you miss the company of other people?"

"No."

And that had been the first indication that she and Master Luke would have a very arm's length relationship. While the Jedi is unfailingly kind and patient, he and Rey have no natural rapport. The belonging she seeks is still ahead of her, Rey supposes, for it is not here on Ahch-To. And Rey sometimes catches her Master looking askance at her. It makes her feel watched and judged and found wanting. Which makes her wonder again why she is here. And what this all means—the Force, the monster, Master Luke and her.

"Is it true that General Organa is your sister?" Rey had simply come out with it one day earlier on. For this has long been rumored around the Resistance.

"Yes. She is my twin."

"Your twin? Don't you miss her?"

Master Luke is silent a long moment. He's silent a lot, actually. "I do not miss war," he says finally. "You are young, Rey, and you do not understand. In time, you will understand."

"You're not ever coming back, are you?" Rey says and her words come out like an accusation. Maybe because they are.

"No," the Jedi says simply. "That's why I am training you. I have fought this fight. It's someone else's turn."

"Oh."

And that was the part no one had clearly explained to Rey when they had sent her here with a lightsaber to summon a hero. When General Organa had urged Rey to be trained in the ways of the Force, no one had told her that the goal was that she would become the hero Luke Skywalker declines to be. On its face, it's a heady vote of confidence. But it's also a terrifying prospect for hers is a dangerous responsibility. And the thought has crossed her mind that perhaps the reason Master Luke keeps his distance is because he fully expects her to fail. And failure in this situation means death. All but one of Skywalker's other students are dead, she knows.

And so the stubborn survivor of Jakku asks herself now and then, do I really want this? If this isn't Luke Skywalker's fight any more, then why should it be mine? Once she had even ventured to ask her Master this, and his reply had not been comforting. "The Force has chosen you and this is your destiny. You may try and run from it, but you will not succeed." And that had been her Master's way of telling Rey that it doesn't matter whether she wants to be a Jedi. This is her future whether she likes it or not. For once more, the Force has plucked an anonymous desert dweller from obscurity and thrust them onto the galactic stage.

But Rey is no secret Skywalker scion, she is a humble scavenger. Orphaned and uneducated, with no Ben Kenobi protector figure watching over from afar. No, it has always just been Rey by herself. Alone, but determined. She's more pragmatic than idealistic. More survivor than hero. Perhaps, she muses one day during meditation, this time the Force has made a mistake.

So today as Rey climbs into Skywalker's rusty old X-wing, she is happy to be leaving for the day on a supply run. Grateful for the change in scenery and grateful too for the change in faces. Happy for respite from talk of the Force and the unrelenting harsh salt air that chaps her skin and rusts everything. Maybe, Rey thinks as the old ion engines chug to life, she should just leave and never come back.

But she would not do that to old Master Luke. She's not that sort of person. Because long ago others left Rey without explanation, abandoned and alone to spend years wondering why and blaming herself. And so Rey will never do that to anyone else.

But today, she is tempted.

Kylo Ren had foreseen this day months before it happened. At first, the Force had revealed only his former Master's X-wing, tumbling as it was abruptly thrown out of hyperspace. Was this Luke Skywalker finally come to kill him now that the Jedi's promise to his parents had died with Han Solo? Kylo had meditated for hours on this possibility and stepped up his training, preparing himself for the long deferred confrontation. He had consulted Snoke. Force visions are often clouded by your fears, his Sith Master had advised. Put aside your fears to find the true meaning.

And so he did. The Force then revealed that the X-wing pilot was in fact a young woman. The sandy scavenger girl from Jakku. Now Skywalker's new Jedi padawan. The girl had turned to him as she removed her pilot's helmet and long brown waves spilled about her shoulders. She has such lovely hair, he remembers. Soft, beautiful hair that a man wants to bury his face in. Is she a Jedi come to kill him? No. In the vision, the girl had locked eyes with him and smiled as she told him to call her Padme. The details of the vision had shifted slightly over time, but the core element remained the same: The Force will bring the scavenger to him. Kylo need only wait.

The anticipation has been killing him.

And today, the day has finally arrived. Skywalker's now ancient X-wing had indeed been tumbled out of hyperspace by a First Order Interdictor and hauled aboard ship by the tractor beam. Knowing in advance of the pilot's identity, it had been simple for Kylo to find her mind in the Force and to blank her consciousness. Rey had not been expecting him and had raised no defenses. It had been all too easy.

This is Kylo Ren's natural talent in the Force: the ability to permeate minds and influence their thoughts. Even as a Jedi Padawan, without effort he could recognize the Force imprint of his friends and family across great distances. Snoke's teachings together with adult maturity have further sharpened his skills and made his techniques more subtle. Non-Force users cannot hide their thoughts from Kylo Ren. And only those Force-users who intentionally erect layers of mental barriers can resist him. And the more Kylo knows someone, the easier it is for him to penetrate their mind unaware. He might be clumsy at saber skills and only average with a blaster, but he is a prodigy when it comes to mental influence and manipulation. Two skills long disfavored by the Jedi and prized by the devious Sith.

She is here. Kylo feels his heart quicken as his anticipation was builds. His destiny has finally arrived.

Kylo stomps quickly through his star destroyer as underlings scurry from his path. It is a long walk from the bridge to the hangar bay. So when Kylo Ren arrives, Skywalker's Rebellion-era X-wing has landed, the hangar crew has shut down the ship, and two men are yanking its pilot roughly from the cockpit.

He watches from afar as the scavenger is unceremoniously dumped to the floor and frisked. They confiscate a small blaster pistol. And then, searching for more weapons, her orange flightsuit is peeled off to reveal a basic brown Resistance uniform with frayed seams where the shoulders are cut out. It's a tantalizing glimpse of skin, he thinks. She is frisked again and the men pause to argue over her lightsaber, uncertain whether it is a weapon or a tool. Caution prevails and the lightsaber is seized. Her helmet is unbuckled and tossed back into the ship with the flightsuit.

A deck officer is consulted as to whether they should request a medic for the unconscious woman. The officer shrugs. "As long as she's not dead, Ren can extract information from her. Just dump her in a cell for now."

And that is Kylo's cue to stride forward. All activity ceases as the assembled crewmen turn respectfully to him. The deck officer steps forward to salute and make his report. "Sir, this is a Resistance craft we intercepted out of hyperspace. The pilot is—"

A wave of his hand silences the officer. "I know who she is."

"Very well, sir." The officer motions the waiting troopers towards the woman.

But Kylo waves the troopers away. "I will handle this personally."

"Yes, sir."

As Kylo crouches next to Rey, he feels a rush of Dark satisfaction. He has been looking forward to this day for a long time. To the girl with the marvelous power that the Force has brought him not once but twice. His. She is his. This is destiny at work, he knows.

Briefly, he rests a black gloved hand on her forehead. Satisfied, he busies himself undoing the pins from Rey's hair. Her hair is the same shade as his mother's hair had been before time had streaked it with grey. And Kylo wants it loose and flowing, like in his vision. He wants Rey exactly like in his vision. Smiling at him and calling herself Padme as she looks to him with trusting eyes and slightly parted lips that just beg for his kiss. His. She is his. And one day, she will be his in every way.

He gathers Rey's slight but strong body to him, pausing momentarily to collect her confiscated lightsaber. He leaves the pistol. "Recharge and refuel this ship. And fit it with a homing beacon," he orders. "No, two beacons." Then he rises and strides from the hangar to his private quarters.

It is an odd sight—the tall masked man robed in black and carrying a limp woman. Her head fallen back and her long hair streaming down. A few crew members openly gape, but most shrug and turn away. Everyone onboard knows of the eccentricities of Kylo Ren, and none dare to remark upon it.