AN : Starting with the interrogation scene but diverging from there. Kylo never removes his helmet in this interrogation. The Resistance is not threatened by Starkiller base for now, the First Order has to recharge it before firing again, and they don't know where the Resistance is. Finn is desperate to get Rey but Poe convinces him that he can't go alone. First Star Wars fic, huge Star Wars fan since childhood, but never shipped a SW couple like this before. Review please. In this fic, they are not related. Period.
Music I recommend if you're in love (like me) with Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. I literally stumbled across 2 songs today that sparked this story to life: Unsteady by Ambassador and I'll be good by Jaymes Young.
"You're nothing but a coward in a mask," she spat at him, concealing her fear behind a passionate bravado. Deep inside, she was trembling. No doubt that the monster standing in front of her was going to torture her for information before killing her. Dying was in fact the best option. The real tragedy would be to die after revealing her secrets and betraying her friends. She was terrified to be weak at the end after she'd thrived all her life on being strong. She'd been fearless until now, but a strange energy emanated from her captor, and she couldn't quite place or recognize its source. Fear had flexed its icy tendrils around her heart ever since she'd laid eyes on the masked man in the Takanodai forest.
He stared at her from behind the mask, or, more accurately, that's what she assumed he was doing.
"I can take whatever I want from your mind, desert rat, I don't need to take off my mask." The synthetic voice was snide, mocking her by its aloofness, like she was nothing but an insect to him.
She braced herself as he raised his hand towards her face, but, to her surprise, he didn't strike her. Instead, the strange pull of an invisible power wrapped around her brain and pressed harder and harder on her mind. He's using the Force again.
Her thoughts, her memories, became slippery. They dripped away through a crack in her brain like sand through an hourglass. Slow but incontestable, her enemy probed around her mind.
Her name was Rey. Rey, he thought, liking the sound of it. It suited her. She'd lived most of her life on Jakku, picking up trash for scraps, waiting for a family that had most likely abandoned her. Whoever they were, they weren't coming back.
"Lonely," he whispered, no longer sounding unkind. "So incredibly lonely," he repeated, his slow words betraying genuine surprise. A raw loneliness oozed from every crevasse of her brain. He was shaken. He hadn't expected to find an echo of his own soul inside this scavenger's mind. Snap out of it, he admonished himself. He wasn't in there to get to know her but to find the map.
He concentrated harder, but, as he came close to unravel her mind, his defenses went down in premature glee.
An opening in his mind stretched in front of her, as clearly as she could see his dark form, and she pushed in. She didn't know what she was doing, didn't know how it was possible, but she could hear his thought mingling with hers.
His mind was a storm always brewing anew. A tepid but unshakable fear ruled supreme amounts the flood of emotions. The man was scared to disappoint his master, weary of his allies' possible betrayal, terrified he'd fail to be as strong as his idol. So much fear, so much anger, so much… regret swirling around inside this monstrous, impenetrable exterior.
"You're afraid," she said in jest as the assault on her mind came to a halt.
His eyes widened behind the mask as he considered what she had done and his inability to stop it. "What are you doing? Stop."
The thick menace made her shiver.
Yes, let's get him angry, if he's angry enough he will kill me, and I won't betray anyone.
"You're so afraid," she laughed, thinking how ridiculous it was that the black demon lived with so much fear hidden inside.
His temper flared as she mocked him. "Shut up""
Emboldened by her success, Rey squinted hard and tried to push into his mind again.
No, this can't be. She's nothing but a lowly scavenger. How can she be so strong with the Force? I must not let her affect my concentration. Wait, is she doing it again?
The flow of thoughts was interrupted by a strong current coming forth in his mind. Like a giant wave, it grabbed everything in its wake and expelled her from his head violently. The whiplash gave her a dulling headache, and black spots muddled her vision as Kylo Ren exited her cell.
Well, that's new, she though as the painful pounding of her heartbeat at her temples made her wince.
The girl is strong with the Force, Kylo Ren repeated, trying to get used to the thought.
It was inconceivable but true all the same. This dessert scum was untrained, unpolished, unknowing, but she was strong. Entering his brain like that, invading his head with no clue of what she was doing… It was impressive. He went to Snoke with the news and grimaced at the answer his master gave him.
Snoke wanted him to seduce the girl to the dark. The dark Sith wanted her to ask to be trained and hoped she'd give up her secrets about the Resistance willingly.
Ren didn't dare to share his opinion with his master. The plan was dangerous.
She was dangerous. He sensed so much light in her, despite her inexperience, and he wasn't sure turning her could be done.
Don't be stupid, she will bow before us before long, she is not as strong as the Dark side. No one can resist it for long, he reminded himself. A wicked smile tugged at the corner of his lips at the thought of her bowing before him broken and obedient. Yes, he thought, my master is right, this is going to be a most delectable victory. Extinguishing her light would be his final test, his last step towards the dark. I shall enjoy every minute of it, he promised himself.
With that promise in mind, he marched to her cell and opened the door.
She was drifting off from exhaustion and wasn't quick enough to fight his compulsion to go to sleep. Everything around her went dark.
He unfastened her bindings with his mind, gathered her up in his arms once more, and transported her to her new quarters. He laid her down on the bed. He almost turned away but hesitated as a strange feeling crept into his cold, calculating heart.
He allowed himself a moment to look at her. Her features were peaceful and her breathing steady. Such a stark contrast from the feisty warrior that had provoked him an hour before. As his gaze roamed her face, an unwanted thought wiggled its way into his brain. Beautiful.
For a second, he was tempted to touch her; to remove his black glove and touch her cheek, skin to skin. The unfamiliar impulse made him frown, and he squashed it immediately. There will be none of that. She's not here to be touched. She's to be broken, used and discarded.
Rey woke up in a different world than the one she remembered fainting into. She was lying on a bed, in a sleeping quarter. She rubbed her cold painful hands together, trying to warm up, and spotted two shiny metallic contraptions decorating both her wrists. Her brows furrowed. They looked like handcuffs but weren't bound together. They were light, not uncomfortable, and kind of fancy. She glanced around, her heart not daring to hope that maybe, just maybe, she had been rescued while she was unconscious.
Any hope she had quickly turned to horror, her pulse quickening as she spotted the vertical bars about 30 feet on the other side of the rudimentary bed. No, this is a cell alright. She got up and walked to the bars. Her knuckles turned white as she grabbed the cold steel with her hands. She glanced back to the bed and refresher in the back.
Oh no. She brought a hand to her mouth to stifle a moan and started to shake uncontrollably. This new prison was scarier, more unnerving than the torture chamber had ever been. Unfamiliar tears stung her eyes, and one dripped on her cheek as a sob escaped her lips. She was in a cage. Trapped, cornered, ensnared. Helpless. They weren't going to dispose of her swiftly like she'd hoped. She sank to the ground and hid her face in her thighs, allowing herself a moment of weakness, of self-pity.
How long am I going to be here? What will he do to me?
But she quickly dried her tears and stood up, her eyes lighting up with determination.
One day, it might be the next hour or the next day, or the next month. Maybe even next year. One day, an opportunity would come, and she would escape. She was a survivor, a desert scavenger used to rigor, pain and starvation. Yes, she promised herself, one day.
She turned toward the door on the other side of the bars before she even heard a sound. Like she'd felt it, felt him coming towards her.
He entered her cage, his dark aura palpable to her now.
"Where I am?" Her tone was curt as she did her best to regain her composure and hide her fear.
"You're my guest," his metallic voice answered, an edge of elation detectable under the practiced stillness.
"No offense, but I'd rather be dead."
Anger rose in him again. That ungrateful brat. This cell had been made for her, the regular prison on Starkiller base not really envisioned for long term prisoners. It was as comfortable as she could expect, but she was mocking him anyway, speaking of her death as if it was just another bad meal to chew. He couldn't resist flipping the switch of her special manacles on using the Force.
She flew into the wall behind her, the force of the impact knocking her breath out. Her wrists were plastered over her head and prevented even the tiniest shift in position. Her eyes widened, her false confidence evaporating at the surprising twist.
Without another word, Ren exited her cell, flipping the switch off as he walked away. She was feisty, but she was a child. Oh, he would break her. One day.