The emptiness of the castle stunned Rey. Her footsteps echoed through the halls like it would in a cave. Or a lair. She shuddered at the thought.

She had to focus on the task at hand: confront the dragon that lived here.

The inhabitants of the nearby village had told her of the shape-shifting dragon that lived in the castle, beseeching her to help. They said that the dragon sometimes swooped down on their fields and burned their crops. Other times the dragon would take the form of a beautiful maiden or handsome lad and lure a youth to the castle to devour them.

Rey was just passing through the village when she stopped a fight, then suddenly, they were all amazed at her martial prowess that they begged her to rid them of the dragon. Normally, she would have declined and gone on her way, but seeing a crying child, orphaned because of the dragon, compelled her to agree to deal with the beast, only so no other child would lose a parent.

The castle was in good repair, she noted. Not at all what one would expect from a castle with a dragon residing in it. Rey wondered if some sort of magic was at play and if it was safe for her to be wandering around.

She stopped when she reached massive ornate doors. The villagers had told her that beyond those doors she would find the dragon.

She took a breath and pushed the doors open.

Kylo Ren knew the moment that there was an intruder in his castle. It was probably another villager who thought that he could be caught off-guard so that they could make off with some of his treasure. Using his magic, he reached out with his senses and determined that the intruder was not from the village, but a complete stranger.

A female stranger.

This piqued his interest. Usually, the villagers would act helpless and beg for some strong adventurer to come and try to defeat him. They all failed of course. Some chose to fail because they heard his side of the story. Others had to be knocked out first to get them to listen to him, but once they heard his story, they too would choose to move on to their next destination.

Of how the villagers kept coming to bother him and try to take his treasure. Of how they came one night and killed his parents in their sleep all for greed.

Ren clenched his hands. Those wretched villagers took advantage of how kind his parents were. The villagers' greed for more drove them to murder. All for nothing because his parents did not hoard treasure. Not as he did.

He unclenched his fists, looking over to the doorway that led to his treasury. His parents had given away food and clothing to every sob story they heard. But that wasn't enough for the villagers, they wanted gold and gems.

The joke was on them though, because all the gems that the Good Lady Leia had were only heirlooms. While the gold was spent wisely, flowing in and out of the vaults in steady commerce.

Ren sighed and shifted his attention once more to the intruder. Perhaps the villagers had sent in an expert thief to try and swipe something from under his nose.

He sat straighter in his seat as the doors were pushed open.

"Oh," Rey said, shocked to see a man sitting in what was an audience chamber. She had fully expected to see a dragon, possibly lazing around on a bed of gold.

The man beckoned her to approach, which she did with hesitation. He was a shape-shifting dragon, she reminded herself. It would be best if she did not lower her guard. She felt his gaze bore into her, scrutinizing her. She stopped when she was a few feet away, close enough for her to lunge and hit him with her staff, far enough that his sword would not reach her.

She hoped that shape-shifting would take longer than the blink of an eye because if it didn't, she would not survive the experience.

"Funny," he said, his voice a deep baritone. Rey noticed that he gave her staff a cursory nod. "A staff is not the usual weapon for your kind."

"My kind?" she asked. "What exactly is 'my kind'?"

"Thief," he replied, his voice caressing each letter as it passed through his lips.

Rey shuddered as she listened to his voice. She had read or heard somewhere that dragons had powerful and seductive voices. Only the strong-willed could resist the temptation that a dragon's voice offered.

"I'm no thief," she said, holding her head high.

She really wasn't a thief. She was more of a wandering mercenary or, at times, a scavenger. But she had never been a thief.

"Liar," he hissed. Rey took offense at that. He didn't know her, and he had the gall to assume that he did.

"I was told that there was a dragon here," she told him with her chin lifted in a defiant tilt. "I'm here on a quest regarding that."

"You were misinformed," he replied. "There is no dragon here. There is no one here. No one but me."

"Then you must be the dragon," Rey said. "They told me you were a shape-shifter."

"And you must be a thief," he countered, neither denying nor confirming her statement.

"I am no thief," she reiterated. "Im here on a quest."

"There have been a lot of thieves who have thought to try their hand at taking what is mine," he said, continuing as if she had not spoken. "Tell me, what did you come here for?"

The villagers had told her how to defeat the dragon, and she knew that this was going to be her one opening. She took it.

"Your heart!" she said as she lunged right at him.

Ren flung himself off his seat, having already expected that she would attack him soon. She just smiled at his dodge and swung her staff, causing him to draw his sword in order to parry the blow.

They danced around each other. When one struck, the other dodged. Ren considered it good exercise. The girl was clearly skilled.

"I don't think this is the correct way to win a man's heart," he said, straightening his stance. "I'm pretty sure that romance is involved."

"What?" she spluttered, caught off-guard at his words.

Ren took advantage of her momentary distraction to disarm her. She was shocked that his sword was suddenly at her throat and her staff was a few feet away.

"Who are you?" Ren asked, studying her face. "And why have you come?"

"I told you," she bit out, trying to keep the blade away from her.

"Not your name," he smiled. "I am Kylo Ren."

"Rey," she replied, reciprocating the courtesy. She might have been a homeless drifter, but she still had manners.

"And your purpose?" he prodded.

"To kill you," she admitted.

"And save the poor villagers from me, I expect," he sighed. "You can rest assured that the villagers will have no problems from me as long as they stay out of my castle."

Ren sheathed his sword, noting that Rey's eyes widened a fraction. He knew that he was putting himself at risk for another attack, but if he wanted her to listen to him, he had to appear to be harmless.

"What do you mean stay out of your castle?" she asked, rubbing her throat.

Ren raised an eyebrow at that. He knew that he hadn't cut her, not even a nick, he was too skilled a swordsman for that to happen.

"It means exactly as it sounds like," he explained, picking up her staff and offering it to her. "As long as the villagers do not come in here and try to steal from me, I have no qualms with them."

"But what would you eat?" Rey asked as she accepted her staff. "If the villagers don't come that is."

"The usual I suppose," Ren shrugged. "Whatever supplies I could purchase from them."

"Supplies?" Rey did a double-take. She was fairly certain that the villagers had told her that his diet consisted of nubile young men and women.

"Of course," he nodded. "Sometimes I go into town to purchase supplies. In disguise, of course."

"So you are a shape-shifter!" she exclaimed, her earlier apprehension melting away. If dragons were all this easy to converse with, she wondered why they were considered a menace.

"Of a sort," he admitted. "But it's more due to costumes rather than magic. I like going into the village as a blonde sometimes."

"No magic?" Rey asked, clearly disappointed.

"Not for costumes," Ren replied.

He led her to a sofa and gestured that she should take a seat. Out of nowhere, a tea service appeared, and Ren poured her a cup.

"Sugar?" he asked.

Rey nodded dumbly, wondering how on earth she went from trying to kill the dragon to having tea with his human form.

"I am actually human, you know," he said, interrupting her thoughts. At her surprised look, he chuckled. "No, I did not read your mind. Just your face."

"My face?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, saying nothing more.

They sat there in comfortable silence, enjoying their tea. Suddenly, Rey jolted up from her seat.

"You're the reason why there are orphans and hungry people in the village!" she pointed out, remembering why she wanted to put an end to him. "You burned their crops with your fire!"

"Nonsense, I have no such ability," he scoffed, then backtracked. "Wait, did you say orphans?"

"Yes orphans!" she said. "The villagers said-"

"The villagers are liars," he cut her off. "The only orphan here is me, and it's all because of them and their greed."

"What?" Rey asked.

"They killed my parents," he told her. "It was a long time ago, but I was still young."

"You've been all alone since then?" she asked, feeling a sort of kinship with him.

If she were being honest, she would have to admit that she found him intriguing, interesting. There was something there, she knew it. She just didn't have the words to describe it. But for once in her life, she felt like she found a place where she could belong.

"It doesn't matter," Ren shook his head. "Feel free to leave."

He stood up and gave her a nod. She knew that if she left, she would never see him again. But she saw pain in his eyes, pain that she knew were also in her own. Rey made a decision.

"Wait," she said, causing him to stop. "Tell me more about being a dragon."

"I'm not a dragon," he replied, returning to his seat. "Just a wizard of sorts. I have no idea where they got that whole dragon-business from."

Rey smiled as he continued to talk about himself. He seemed different from the haughty man she first encountered.

Perhaps the villagers weren't completely incorrect. The way to defeat a dragon was to get his heart. And while Rey knew that the road to obtaining said heart would be long, she had a feeling that she was already on her way there.

A/N: CRACK! Bc it's still my birthday and I can write what I want!

oh and bc I lack sleep. lol.
So how was it? Did it seem like crack or was it just cracky? Tell me what you thought!