Chapter One

It started when Rey arrived at Plutt's Salvage and Tow. The man the foster care agency had placed her with, Unkar Plutt, was less inclined to coddle her than her foster care sponsor, which wasn't saying much.

Bazine Netal, her previous sponsor, had been cold, calculating, and concerned with number one. Her motivation for housing Rey was to use Rey for her own social gain, pretending to be of a maternal nature with a dainty child who looked as lovely as she did in high fashion. Rey hadn't been what Bazine had signed up for. Apparently most people were only interested in babies. No one was looking for a stubborn, spit-fire kid who would rather have scraped knees and dirt on her shoes than wear a skirt and do her best pose for a 'Mommy and Me' Instagram post. Bazine would have been safer with one, had she had the constitution to care for it, because a baby wouldn't sass her. Bazine was all too quick to be rid of her.

Rey had never been one to care about clothes, pleased to have the hand-me-downs her mother had brought her from the Goodwill. It was usually jeans and t-shirts. On special occasions, she got a new pair of sneakers, though she preferred to run around barefoot. It was more freeing.

Freedom was about to become a foreign concept.

At six years old, Rey was scrawny and in the lower percentile of growth for her age group. Her tiny form had been what had drawn Plutt to her. The minute she arrived at his workplace, she knew what he saw in her. Rey had always been clever. She noted the layers upon layers of cars and debris in the junk yard. Even with machines, parsing out specific parts from the piles would be difficult. A grown man could get some of it done, but a small child could easily climb around and through some of the tighter spots. She trembled at the thought of being caged between so much metal, away from the sunshine.

Once Bazine had taken her leave, Plutt ushered Rey into his trailer. It sat within the yard, hidden behind a pile of wrecked cars away from the front gate's view. "This is where you sleep, girl." She followed his finger to where he pointed to a dilapidated couch. "You're not to come in here," he gestured to a room at the back of the trailer. "That's mine." His room had a bed and a door for privacy, whereas the couch, he had directed her to, was situated by the trailer door in plain view of everything.

Rey was in no mood to argue. She simply nodded, clutching a small backpack — which held what few belongings she did own — tight against her chest. Unkar Plutt was a large man with a menacing stare. If she wanted to survive, she would need to remain on his good side.

Her first night was spent crying silently on the tattered couch. Plutt never heard her over his own loud snores. Rey hugged herself, curled around her backpack as the tears fell. She missed her parents. She missed her home. Most of all, she missed her yard.

Her parents hadn't had much, but they had owned a small parcel of land, which had been alongside a forest. The backyard had been her own little world, a place to keep her company since her parents were never around. She had spent countless hours barefoot and free in the lush grass. On more than one occasion, she had found a turtle or a frog to speak to. There was the one morning when she came across a snake, but she hadn't bothered him. She knew better than to agitate a creature like that. It was dangerous.

Now she was stuck in this suffocating trailer with a danger far worse. Even as she wept, she felt eyes on her, watching as she fell apart in the darkness. She glanced about the trailer, expecting to see a dog or cat, since Plutt was asleep, but there was nothing — only night. She shivered again.

She knew Plutt wouldn't leave her alone. He had plans for her and those plans were laid out before her the next morning.

It was still dark when Plutt had emerged from his room and dragged her out for the day. They were standing in the salvage yard, surrounded by totaled vehicles and scrap metal. Rey brought along her backpack. She didn't trust Plutt. The idea of him going through her stuff unsettled her.

"You work here now, girl," he instructed her. Apparently he would not take the time to learn her actual name. "If you find me anything good, you get to eat for the day."

He gave her a pair of gloves, which were too big for her tiny hands, and a bottle of water. That was all. Rey stared at the items, unsure for a moment. He couldn't be serious, could he? The foster system wouldn't have placed her with him if he refused to feed her, right?

"Get moving!" Plutt shouted at her.

With a jump, Rey went running as far away from her new guardian as she could. She darted between half a Cadillac and a smashed up Scion, before she spotted an old silver Ford Falcon wedged in the back corner of the lot. It was smashed up badly, rusted and dented along the side, a clear indication it had been in an accident. Still, it was more whole than any of the other junkers in the lot. Rey decided it was the safest place to hide.

Crawling through the broken passenger side window, she shimmied herself into the back seat. The back was spacious, the seat built like one large couch. Rey felt around under the seat, careful to avoid shards of class from the shattered windows. There was space underneath, where the levers for the seat positioning were located. That was where she shoved her backpack. It would be far safer here than back in Plutt's trailer.

Once it was secure, she took a minute to scan the inside of the vehicle. It was a 1979 model, outfitted with HSLA and color-keyed bumpers. She had known this particular model had extra cargo room, which was why it had been perfect for storing her treasures. The extra few inches allowed her to hide what little she had out of sight of anyone passing by the vehicle. Satisfied with where she had stashed her backpack, she turned her attention towards the front.

Rey climbed into the driver's seat, placing her small hands around the steering column. Whoever had last driven the car must have been tall. The seat was set back, too far for her feet to reach the pedals, not that the Ford would have started if she had keys for it. The front was badly damaged. From where she sat, she could see the door frame was bent in. For a full-grown adult, the indentation was deep enough to caress their leg. She shivered, wondering briefly if the driver had made it out alive.

Turning her attention to the other side, she glanced down at the gear shift, and flash of gold caught her eye. Hanging from the rear view mirror was a pair of metal dice. Rey reached up, transfixed by the shiny object. There were odd markings on them, which looked as though they had been burned into the metal. She had never seen markings like it before. Curious, she stood up on the seat, so she could pull the pair down from their perch.

The instant she touched the dice, the car darkened. The air chilled and she felt a tingle creep up her spine. Rey wondered if a thunder storm was about to hit. Angling her head so she could see out from under the roof, she noticed the sky was still void of clouds.

Strange.

She straighten up and stared at the rear view mirror. She wasn't alone. There was a pair of blood red eyes staring back at her from a dark faceless form. Shrieking, she lost her footing and fell backwards through the divide into the backseat — where the creature had been. Scrambling about, she scanned the interior of the Falcon for the owner of those haunting orbs.

Nothing was there.

She was alone.

The next time Rey saw the red eyes was about a month later. In the time between, she had convinced herself that what she saw was from lack of sleep and fear. She returned to the Ford Falcon the next day. There was nothing inside except for her backpack, still safe and hidden where she had left it. The dice still hung in the same position on the rear view mirror. Nothing had changed inside. There was no sign of life. After her inspection, she wrote off the experience as something she had imagined and focused on how to survive.

She learned quick what Plutt considered worthless and what he would trade for food. Fenders and bumpers were decent. Catalytic converters were better, as long as the car she was scavenging in had been manufactured after 1975. Electronics were always sure to get her a full meal, though those were few and far between. There had been a day when she found a working GPS. Plutt had given her a Banquet dinner and a pudding cup for that. It was the first night since she had arrived where Rey slept with a full belly. She had been chasing that satisfied feeling since.

It was during dusk as she was on her way back to the trailer for the night. She stopped by the Falcon to check on her treasures, as she did every day. Only this time, she went inside the vehicle. The dice called to her. Before she was aware of what she was doing, she was in the front seat again, reaching up. She managed to free them from where they were looped over the rear view mirror. They felt oddly heavy in her small hand. She pocked them, wondering if Plutt would give her anything for them. It wasn't a car part, but it was worth a shot.

Climbing out of the window, she caught her ankle on the door handle and tumbled forward into the dirt. With a groan, she pushed herself up, brushing off the dirt which had covered her body. As she stood, the atmosphere changed. She paused, feeling the familiar chill in the air.

"Those dice...they belong to me."

Snapping her head up, Rey glanced about, expecting to see the red eyes. Once again, no one was there. Shaking her head, she reminded herself she hadn't eaten yet today. She wrote off the incident and continued walking towards the trailer. She desperately needed to eat and she hoped beyond hope Plutt would be pleased with the golden pair. Maybe she'd get another pudding cup.

She had worked tirelessly all day until the sun set over Jakku. Now, as the night eclipsed the last of the daylight, darkness coated the entire yard. It was then she heard the voice call to her again.

"Return the dice to me, little one." He crooned from the shadows.

She assumed it was a him by the sound of his voice. It was deeper than Plutt's voice, though not less intimidating, so it couldn't be Teedo. Maybe it was another one of Plutt's thugs. Those brutes he employed constantly tried to steal her finds from her. Being as small as she was, they figured she wouldn't put up a fight. The last one to come after her still wore the bite mark she had imprinted on his hand.

"Come out." She demanded, feigning bravery, though her words wavered.

Rey searched for a weapon, ready to protect what was hers. She settled upon an old pipe, about two feet long. It would definitely leave a mark if it hit her opponent.

"Don't be afraid," the voice implored her.

"I'm not afraid." She insisted, despite it being a clear lie. Her grip on the pipe tightened.

The darkness chuckled. "You are, but if you return the dice to me, I will leave you alone."

"I'm not giving you anything," she hissed, baring her teeth slightly, as if she was a feral beast.

There was a humming sound, as though he was thinking over her words. The chill from the air seeped through her skin, permeating her until it settled deep in her bones. She shivered, suddenly unable to get warm, despite the Jakku heat. Her arms erupted in gooseflesh and she hugged herself reflexively.

"You're lonely. At night, desperate to sleep."

Rey trembled at the truth in the man's — she thought it was a man — response. She still cried at night, yearning for a need she couldn't name. It had been weeks since she had been sent to live with Plutt. The junkyard wasn't the same as her old backyard, but she had found a way to enjoy a tiny bit of freedom. As long as she brought decent scrap to Plutt at the end of the day, she was left alone to wander, yet the ache in her chest remained unfilled.

It wasn't the ache of hunger. During her first week in Jakku she had experienced that pain. The emptiness in her stomach had driven her to adapt, accelerating her understanding of motor parts. She never spent unnecessary time on a vehicle which didn't hold worth.

If she could hold on long enough to save up some of her rations, she could runaway. She could find her way home to her backyard and everything would go back to the way it had been. There would be no more scavenging, no more of Plutt hollering at her, and no more nights alone crying.

Rey wanted to survive.

"Are you going to come out?" She asked with a huff. If she meant to survive, she needed to ensure no one tried to subdue her, including this one lurking in the shadows.

Silently, the red-eyed voice crept out of the darkness. It was difficult to discern where he ended and the night began. It was as if he was made of the shadows themselves. He was draped in obsidian, covered from head to toe in the black color, except for his glowing red eyes. Rey had to force herself not to move as he stood to his full height. He loomed before her, over six feet tall.

Rey couldn't deny it anymore. Someone — no, something — was living in the yard, hiding amongst the wreckage.

For several minutes, the two regarded one another — the shadow monster and the orphan girl. Where he melted into the nighttime, one with the darkness, she was sun kissed from the hours spent laboring in the yard. Her brown hair had lightened slightly from the prolonged exposure and her freckles had become more prominent. There were no such features on his face — if he even had one. He was a silhouette with no defining characteristics apart from his burning gaze, which was fixed upon her.

Rey came to the realization, as terrifying as he appeared, he hadn't attacked her. Part of her wondered if it was because she had imagined him. She had never seen anything like this before, not on TV and not in books. Perhaps it was a dream brought on by too many hours toiling in the sun. Then he spoke and she knew what she saw was real.

"How were you able to retrieve the dice?"

"These?" Rey retrieved the golden pair from her pocket. His eyes followed her motion, locked on the treasure she held in her open palm.

"Yes."

She shrugged. They were only a decoration. What was so important about them?

"They have not been moved since the owner of the vehicle died and yet somehow you — a human child — were able to hold them. How?"

The question he asked was far too much for her young mind to comprehend. All she knew was she had found the dice, abandoned in the wreck — abandoned to the junk yard as she had been. Unlike her, the shadow could have no use for them. This was her treasure — Finders, keepers and all that jazz. She wouldn't give it up so easily. She needed to eat.

She shrugged again. "Dunno."

"You know I can take whatever I want." There was an edge to his voice when he responded, a sharp tone which was similar to how Plutt spoke to her when she didn't bring him anything good. Rey instinctively shied away, fearful he would strike her.

Plutt had hit her the first day she had arrived back at the trailer empty-handed. Rey had never been struck before. Her parents hadn't been around enough to discipline her, so the idea of punishment was an alien one. Her cheek had stung for days afterwards, the red palm a brand upon her skin. His thugs had been relentless the day after, convinced she'd been broken by Plutt's violent act. She hadn't let them get to her, kicking one in the shin, before snarling at the rest and taking off to hide under an old pick-up truck.

As if the shadow could see into her mind, his eyes widened. He paused, considering her stance. Slowly, he walked around to her side. Rey stayed grounded where she was. One shadowy hand reached out towards her face. He didn't touch her, just hovered over her cheek — the same one Plutt had marked. Then, in a quieter voice, he asked, "Do you know what I am?"

"You're a monster."

"Yes, I am."

They fell into silence again. Rey studied him, the creature spun of nighttime decorated with fire for eyes. He was scary. His broad form was darker than the normal shadows, casting out all light. Anger radiated from him, boiling rage churning the flames of his orbs. She caught something else in those eyes. Hidden beneath the depths of the flames, at the core of the fire, was raw, painful loneliness. She thought of the snake she had stayed away from in her backyard. It had been alone too. Had it been in her yard searching for a friend? Was that why it was in a constant state of agitation — because it was all alone?

Most children her age had dozens of friends. Most children her age had parents who set-up playdates and took them to the park. Most children her age didn't grow up alone or end up working illegally in a salvage yard. But it occurred to Rey, just because she was stuck at Plutt's Salvage and Tow didn't mean she couldn't have a friend. Could monsters be good friends? She didn't know, but she was willing to try.

"I'm Rey."

She extended her hand, the way she had seen her teachers do when they met a new person. The shadow stared at her grease covered fingers, hesitating, before he took her tiny hand in his own. It wasn't actually a handshake. She realized he couldn't actually touch her — not in this form. His hand — maybe it was a claw? — felt like mist, or cold steam. Rey grasped at it, trying to catch the particles as they danced around her finger tips. Her attempts were as feeble as when she had tried to catch fireflies. The particles were not meant to be caught.

"Kylo Ren." The monster introduced himself.

She giggled both at the sensation and his response. "You have a funny name."

The monster — Kylo — narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak, Plutt shouted out into the night.

"Girl! Get in here now or you're sleeping in the yard!"

Rey jumped, hurrying off without looking back. Had she glanced over her shoulder, she would have seen the shadow beast dissolve into the night, latching onto her shadow as he followed her to the trailer.

A/N: This is a result of my writer's block for Hit Me With Your Best Shot. While I am struggling to write chapter 22, the idea for another story popped into my brain. Rey keeps calling Kylo a monster. What if he was an actual, legit monster? This is what I think about while I lie awake in bed and this fic is the result of those musings. Let me know what you think.