He could have lost her. One moment, she'd been standing next to Hux, and the next she'd been lying helpless on the ground with two broken legs. Ren himself had been too far away, too out of his mind, to be of any use. If it hadn't been for the general, Rey would have been lost to the fire. The mere thought of it made Ren want to destroy something. Preferably Hux' face, paradoxically enough.

"We can't stay in here forever," Rey said, leaning against the storage door. "Come on. Let's go." Her makeup was gone, and her hair tumbled freely down her shoulders. Her flushed cheeks were bruised and stained with ash and dirt, and her robe was all but destroyed. She looked about as disheveled as a person could possibly look, yet she still somehow looked perfect. She was beautiful, and she was his.

He placed his hands on either side of her head and pressed his lips hard against hers. She squirmed slightly, but still kissed him back. They'd reached a point in their relationship where he was, apparently, allowed to cage her against the wall like this and kiss her senseless. She'd accepted him, somehow. After some negotiations, she'd accepted being his.

In the moment, admitting to being hers had felt like the most natural thing in the world. He still didn't question the truthfulness of the statement, but he was starting to have second thoughts about saying it out loud. He didn't even want to think about the implications of it, and what it would mean for his partnership with the Supreme Leader. Being passionate was a part of the dark ways, but Lord Snoke still expected control from his underlings. Ren wasn't sure if he was truly in control of the situation anymore.

"We need to find Hux," Rey said, placing a hand on his chest to hold him back. "He was most likely the intended target of the bomb. I mean, since our job is to protect him, we should probably be out there with him."

Ren clenched his jaw. The image of Hux carrying Rey over his shoulder flashed before his eyes. "Right now, I don't really care."

"He saved my life. I'm grateful for it, and you should be too."

"It should have been me." Ren bent down and burrowed his nose in the crook of her neck. His lips grazed her skin. "I should have been the one to save you." Because you're mine, and I'm yours.

"You were having a fit," Rey said sharply. "If Hux hadn't decided to take me with him, I would have burned to death. Since you still haven't figured out that you don't belong to the blasted dark side, you had a mental freak-out—again—and were unable to save your only apprentice from certain death. Don't blame General Hux. If you're going to blame someone, you're going to have to blame yourself." She tilted her head to the side. "Or Snoke. He's the one who started this madness to begin with."

Ren stepped away from her as if he'd been burned. "I'm not having this conversation with you."

"Of course you're not." She rolled her eyes and opened the door to the corridor. "I'm going to go and find general Hux. Feel free to follow me whenever you decide to use your own brain for a change."

He followed her through the door, boiling with anger. "You don't understand. The Supreme Leader is wise. He's powerful. He—"

"He's evil reincarnated and would sacrifice you in a heartbeat if he thought it served him." She paused to raise the hood of her cloak over her head. "If he has a heart, that is. I'm honestly not sure."

Ren grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop. "You can't say that kind of things out loud. If he hears about it—"

"Then what?" She spun around. "He'll have me killed?"

"He'll have me kill you!" he exclaimed.

"You wouldn't kill me."

His grip around her arm tightened. "Don't be so sure."

She raised her chin in defiance. "You wouldn't kill me. Not even on his orders. Our bond is stronger than that rotten, manipulative thing you share with Snoke. I'd bet my life on it."

Suddenly, Ren felt tired. Exhausted. He let go of her arm and continued to walk. "Please, don't bet your life on it. I'd prefer not to have to bury you."

"If it makes you feel any better, I can tell you right now that I'd never give in to you without a fight." She smirked. "I may not have your training, but I know we're evenly matched nowadays. If you decide to take me down, I'm taking you with me."

He wasn't sure how that made him feel.

After a couple of turns in the corridor, they were joined by two Stormtroopers going in the same direction. Ren pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, feeling strangely naked without his mask. He was going to have to go back to the demolished conference hall sooner or later to get it back.

The quartet walked together toward the medical bay, none of them saying a word. The silence didn't come as a surprise, considering the fear the Stormtroopers usually radiated in Ren's presence. This wasn't the usual kind of silence, though. Something was off.

Ren sent out careful tendrils of the Force, testing the atmosphere. Oh, yes, something was definitely wrong. The soldier to his left kept fiddling with his blaster, and there was something strange about the way the soldier to his right moved.

The group turned around yet another corner, leaving them in an empty corridor. Ren got a bad premonition.

"Rey. I think we should—"

He didn't get any further. The Stormtroopers spun around, and before he could react, their blasters were fixed on Rey's head. Rey froze in place, eying the soldiers carefully.

"You're no ordinary Stormtroopers, are you?" she slowly said.

"And you're no ordinary knight of Ren," said the strange Stormtrooper. "Pull off your hood."

"Why?"

"Because we're in charge now," said the nervous one. "We have the blasters. You'll do as we say because we're in charge."

Ren took a deep breath, fighting to keep his anger in check. The Stormtroopers may not know it yet, but the moment they'd pointed their blasters at Rey, they'd pretty much signed their death sentence. "Do not be so sure."

He gathered the Force and sent the nervous Stormtrooper flying into the wall, but before he could get started on the strange one, the other soldier had already grabbed Rey and pressed the blaster against her chin.

"Take off your hood," the Stormtrooper said. "Show us your face."

Rey began to reach for the saberstaff on her back, but stopped before her fingers touched its handle. Her body language changed, becoming less threatening. Ren's heart pounded in his chest. Why wasn't she defending herself?

"Who are you?" she asked.

The strange Stormtrooper pressed his blaster harder against her skin. "Take off your hood."

With slow, careful movements, Rey removed her hood, revealing her face. The Stormtroopers froze in place. Seconds passed with nothing happening. Then, the blasters were suddenly pointed at Ren instead. Bad decision. With Rey's life being out of danger, Ren no longer had to hold back. He slung both soldiers through the corridor. Their blasters hit the ground hard, falling into pieces all over the floor.

Ren was just about to lift the Stormtroopers by their necks when Rey put her hand on his arm.

"It's okay. I know them." She paused. "I think you know them, too."

Ren dropped the Stormtroopers to the floors. "Reveal yourselves."

The soldiers finally removed their helmets. Adrenaline surged through Ren's veins. The strange one turned out to be no one other than the best pilot in the Resistance, and the nervous one . . . Ren pulled out his lightsaber and lit it up.

"Traitor."

"Man, I knew he was gonna say that," Finn exclaimed. "We're going to die. We just found Rey again and now we're all going to die."

"No, we're not," Poe Dameron said. "Are we, Rey?"

While Finn was looking at Rey like she was the epitome of everything nice in the world, Poe had a more skeptical look on his face.

"Our intel said there was a new knight of Ren who wasn't like the other knights. One who was more like an apprentice than a subordinate. A Force user. When the news about your kidnapping reached the Resistance, most people assumed you'd be dead within a week. There was this other faction though, a small group of people who believed you'd turn and become a monster like Ren. And then there was me and Finn. We knew you'd keep fighting. That's why we're here. We've come to save you."

Rey cocked an eyebrow and pointed at some of the bruises on her face. "Thanks for that. I especially enjoyed the massive explosion."

"I'm sorry about that. Finn and I were against the idea, but we were overruled." Poe pursed his lips. "The Resistance found out about this conference and decided that this would be a stellar opportunity to take out both Kylo Ren and his new apprentice. We didn't think you'd be anywhere near the explosion because we, you know . . . we fully convinced you'd never side with someone like Kylo Ren." He eyed her from head to toe, taking in the tattered black cloak. "Rey. I hate to ask you this, but . . . what side are you on?"

"She's with the Resistance!" Finn slowly got up from the floor. "What else would she be?"

"With me." Ren stepped closer to them. "Where she belongs."

Finn scrunched up his face in confusion. "She belongs with us. Her friends. Not her blasted kidnapper. You hear? She's one of ours."

Poe sat up and stared at Rey, running a hand through his hair. "Please, Rey. Tell me you didn't fall for his crap. Tell me you're still with us."

"I . . . I don't know," Rey finally said.

"You don't know? What do you mean, you don't know?" Finn grabbed her shoulders, nearly lifting her off her feet. "He kidnapped you. He tortured you. He's a coldblooded murderer. What do you mean, you don't know?"

"She and I share an unbreakable Force bond," Ren said, swinging his lightsaber through the air to warm up his wrists. "She's my apprentice. She belongs with me. Get your hands off her."

"She belongs with—"

A sudden surge in the Force shut up both Ren and Finn. The air vibrated with power.

"I belong with no one," Rey growled, clenching her fists. "I'm my own person. I choose my own path. Yes, I've been training as Ren's apprentice. No, I haven't converted to the First Order. Yes, I usually agree with the Resistance's views and opinion, but no, I'm not going back there. I've learned a lot during my stay here. Judging by that explosion, the Resistance is just as guilty as the First Order in keeping these pointless battles going—do you even know how many civilians there were in there?"

She gave Finn and Poe a pointed stare. Neither of them met her gaze.

"Right now, this entire war is being fabricated by a man known as the Supreme Leader Snoke," she continued. "He's the most powerful man in the First Order, and without him, the First Order's armies would fall apart. He's the glue that keeps the organization together. Bringing him down is the only way we'll ever have intergalactic peace again."

"Then let the Resistance take him down!" Finn grabbed her hands, squeezing them tightly. "With your help, I'm sure we could take down this Snoke person. What are we waiting for? What's the problem?"

"The problem is that no one in the Resistance is capable of taking on someone like Lord Snoke," Ren snarled. Seeing Rey's hands in Finn's made his sword-hand itch for action. The only reason he hadn't killed them both already was because of Rey's former friendship with them. He got the feeling she wouldn't approve.

"He's the strongest Force in the galaxy," he continued. "He could take on the entire Resistance at once and still win. No one can defeat him."

"I disagree." Rey stared at him intently. "Ren. Your powers with the Force are nearly limitless. If you went up against Lord Snoke today, I think you'd actually stand a chance. Then, there's me. I may not be as physically strong as you are, but Force-wise, we're more or less equals. If we fought against Lord Snoke together, I think we'd actually have a chance of winning."

"We're not fighting Lord Snoke." Ren took a step back, trying hard to keep his facial expressions in check. He'd never heard Rey speak like this before. Her dislike of Lord Snoke had always been obvious, but he'd never thought she'd plan something like this. What she was suggesting meant going against everything he stood for—everything he'd ever known. He couldn't do it. Not to the Supreme Leader. If he went against Lord Snoke, he'd never get the guidance he needed to cross over to the dark side. He'd always be in pain.

"So let me get this straight," Poe said, raising an eyebrow. "While we've been worrying like crazy back at the Resistance, you've been using your kidnapping as some kind of Force-training boot camp. You're rebelling from both the First Order and the Resistance, and you want to team up with the Resistance's arch nemesis to take down a supervillain we haven't even heard of before. Is that about right?"

Rey nodded.

Poe scratched the back of his head. "Girl, you're really messing up our rescue mission, here."

Rey smiled. "I don't remember asking for a rescue."

Ren couldn't stand the situation for a second longer. He slammed his blade into the nearest wall, sending sparks through the corridor.

"This is what's going to happen," he said in a low voice. "This madness ends here. Dameron and the traitor will be taken prisoners. They're enemies of the First Order, and they'll be punished accordingly. No one's taking on Lord Snoke. Not me, not Rey, no one."

Rey stepped in front of him, raising her saberstaff. She met his gaze without hesitation or fear. "Poe and Finn will leave this planet freely. They're our allies, and they will not be punished. You and I will take on Lord Snoke. Together."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Not really, no." She grinned. "Let's put it this way—I'm going to give my all to find Lord Snoke. When I do, I'll fight him, whether you're there with me or not. Alone, I'd probably last about half a minute. With you by my side, I'd stand a chance. It's your choice, really. How do you want this to go?"

Ren's jaw dropped. This was the ultimatum that simply couldn't happen. Lord Snoke, or Rey? The person who saved him from his family, or the person who kept saving him from himself? She'd put him in an impossible situation with no decent solutions. Allow Snoke to kill her, or help her kill Snoke? Neither was an acceptable option to him.

"I can't make that kind of decision," he finally said.

"You can't make that decision yet. I'll convince you. Just come with me. We'll figure it out." She tilted her head to the side. "You're the one who said we belong together. Well, I'm not going to stay here for much longer, so if you want to be with me, you're going to have to come with me."

Ren swore under his breath. He couldn't come up with a single argument against that. She was right, after all. He wasn't strong enough to keep her locked away anymore. The decision was simple, really—much simpler than her ultimatum. If she decided to go somewhere, he was going to have to come with her. Kriff, it infuriated him.

"She's good," Finn said.

"Scary good," said Poe.

Ren just stared at her, speechless. She'd won. This infuriating little apprentice of his had won. He would follow her to the end of the galaxy and back, and judging by the smug little smile on her face, she knew it. If he had to betray the First Order to stay by her side, he would. She was holding the reins now, and there was nothing he could do about it. The control was in her hands. Even if he still wasn't sure if he could ever make a choice between her and Lord Snoke, he'd follow her to the Supreme Leaders true location. He'd follow her anywhere.

He felt the urge to kiss the smug smile off her face, but he managed to fight it off. She'd won their argument, and she obviously had his loyalty. The two Resistance fighters didn't have to know she'd won his heart as well.

"Now what?" Poe asked. "Where do we start? There are at least a hundred things that could go wrong from here, and our friend in black here stands for at least ninety nine of them."

Ren rolled his eyes.

Poe grinned before continuing. "What am saying is, do we have any idea of how we're going to do this?"

"We need a plan," Finn said.

Rey nodded. "We need a plan."