Chapter 1: Captured and Freed

It was no use, Rey could neither wriggle free, and her force abilities seemed useless. She needed help, but the only person she had ever been able to speak to through using the force was Kylo Ren. She had hoped, the last time she saw him, that he would have abandoned the dark side and joined her. But he wanted her to leave the resistance and join him. Damn, that seemed like a lifetime ago.

When was the last time their force-bond joined them together? She couldn't remember. Going back through her mind, she tried to think. The first time it happened after their battle at Crait, he just stared at her with hateful eyes and said nothing until her apparition vanished when she closed the hatch. Most of their force visions since resulted in one or both of them merely waiting in silence for the vision to end. Except…for the last time it happened. Rey remembered his words, "You should have taken my hand…stayed with me…ruled with me. Join me, and I'll give you all the answers you've been searching for." She also remembered that she sarcastically asked him if he was enjoying being alone as the Supreme Leader of the First Order because that was all he would ever be—alone.

She hated herself for those words now. More than anything, they both hated being alone, and Rey purposefully rubbed salt in that wound. Would he even care if she was captured? Or would he rejoice in the fact that in a matter of days, she would no longer be around to taunt him?

Seeing no other choice, she calmed her breath and relaxed her mind. Never before had she tried to seek Kylo Ren out of her own volition.

She saw Kylo Ren standing, clearly gazing at something. In truth, he was the bridge of his command ship gazing out into the sea of stars. "Ben," she called out. With that, his head rose suddenly and turned to look at her. He had a new mask, the cracks filled in with red alloy. He was confused by what he was seeing. Why was Rey looking up at the ceiling? Why didn't she look at him?

Rey recalled that neither could ever see each other's surroundings, only them. Could he see the machine she was bound to?

"Why are you laying like that?" he asked.

"I can't move." She replied. "I can't even turn my head to look at you."

"What's happened? Where are you?" he asked, now sounding nervous.

"I don't know. Ben, I'm sorry that I….." Zweeeeeeeeeeeee, blue electric pulses filled Rey's mind. It was more than just a shock under her skin. It was as if livewires had been attached to the end of each of her nerves; her body convulsed as the current flowed through her. In only moments, her entire world vibrated into blackness. Kylo Ren felt an emptiness growing within as if someone had just ripped away a piece of his soul.

As the vision of Rey vanished, Kylo Ren made haste to the bridge of his ship, knocking out anyone foolish enough to get in his way. "What intel do we have on resistance attacks not led by us?"

"Sir?"

"The resistance has been attacked, and not by us. I need to know if whoever is out there is likely to be a threat to us."

"At the present time, Supreme Leader" General Hux started, "we are unaware of any attacks on the resistance that were not lead by our fleet.

Turning to one of the operators, Kylo Ren ordered, "open a com-channel, then. I need to speak with a member of the resistance."

"Sir – hacking their frequencies will take hours. Shall I contact,"

"Broadcast a message then," Kylo Ren interrupted. "I just need to make sure they hear it."

"Sir – what is the message?"

"Tell them that I know they have been attacked, and I know their precious scavenger girl is in trouble. I need to know who attacked them. Give them our com-frequency so that they may reply."

Kylo Ren spent the next 42 minutes pacing the floor of his chambers. That stupid girl, where could she be? If only she had stayed with him, then she would have never fallen into harm's way. How inept were those rebels that they allowed her to be captured? And who could be powerful enough to do so? Kylo Ren tried again to clear his mind, calm his breath, and call out to Rey. There was nothing, he could not sense her.

"Sir – we have received a request for a private communication between a leader of the resistance and yourself. Shall I connect you?"

"Do it." Facing the projection, he recognized the man on the other side, Poe Dameron. In a way, he was relieved that it wasn't Leia, but hated that this once former prisoner now stood between him and finding Rey.

"Where's the girl?" Kylo Ren asked immediately.

"You mean she's not with you?!"

"If she were here, I would have no need to talk with you, would I?"

"Dammit! We thought she was with you!" Kylo Ren wondered why the resistance would think that Rey was with him.

"Was she intending to seek me out?"

"No idea, man. We thought that because of what happened," Poe hesitated. "I take it from this communication request you already know what happened."

"I don't know what happened, only that something happened. What was it?"

"I uh…I am not too sure I want to go into detail there."

"Listen, your filthy rebel scum, something happened to her!" voice crescendoed into full-on shouting. "If you, or Leia, or anyone there gives a damn about her, you will tell me what happened, else she dies."

"Woah, geese, okay. Look, last night – Rey went….she wasn't acting like herself. She killed resistance soldiers, destroyed the place, she tried to kill Leia. Then she left, on her own, we have no idea where. We thought maybe you had finally turned her or something. If you're not behind this, how did you know she was missing?"

"Not important. Do you have any idea where she would have gone?"

"None, but it's not like we can go out and look,"

Kylo Ren abruptly ended the transmission. They didn't know where she was, and neither did he. Did she turn? No…no, he would have sensed it if she had. Someone must be manipulating her, someone truly powerful, more powerful than either Kylo Ren or Rey. For fear that he may lose Rey forever, he released his anger by slamming both his fists into the communication wall, shattering the glass screen.

Rey jolted awake with cold; her body covered itself in goosebumps as she longed for warmth. How long had her mind been dark? She wondered what time it was if it was a day or night. This darkness robbed Rey of her sense and replaced it with paralyzing fear, for she could sense immense power nearby, but could not see an inch in front of her face. Despite not being able to move, her muscles continued to cramp, leaving her to whimper through the pain until they could, on their own accord, relax.

Her mind couldn't quite form the memory of how she wound up in this pitch-black prison. It seemed that she simply had a bad dream, and when she woke, found herself in a nightmare. Screaming out into the darkness, she heard her own voice echo endlessly. In this darkness, time lost its meaning, and she found her entire world was drifting further away.

Time, in what seemed like days, passed. Loneliness ate her alive, swallowing every ounce of hope she had yet to spare. She longed for someone, anyone, to hold her hand, to put a reaffirming touch on her shoulder, to tell her that everything was going to be okay. But in the darkness, there was nothing. And in this hellish prison, her only companion was loneliness, and it continued to taunt.

Trying to calm her mind, she thought back to the time that Kylo Ren had spared her life, instead taking Snoke's. They fought together, and at the end of the battle, he offered her his hand. She could still imagine the desperation in his voice, "join me….please." As much as she wanted to take his hand, to be someone important, if only to him. Yet, the light inside wouldn't let her. She could never have joined him, even though he was the only person who ever made her truly feel that she was not alone. She, like Luke, had failed him. If only she had done something more to turn him, he would have been with her. He could have protected her from this. Whispering into the blackness, she cried out, "I'm scared, Ben. I wish I wasn't alone."

"You're not alone." He replied. Rey's eye shot open, even in the darkness she could see him. His face was unshielded by his mask this time. "Where are you?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"What happened?"

"I can't remember." Rey began to gasp for air and clearly looked terrified of whatever was standing over her.

"Rey, what is it? Rey?!" Zrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee. Kylo Ren could neither see nor understand what was happening to her but was revolted and terrified by the sudden smell of burning flesh. Their force bonded visions were never long, but this, this was mere seconds. What was interrupting them? Calming his mind, Kylo Ren imagined Rey, imagined her before him, imagined her voice, her face, and her touch; all to no avail as he did not yet know how to call out to Rey the way she called out to him. With a variety of scenarios running through his head, each more terrifying than the last, he had no choice but to wait for Rey to reach to him again.

Rey jolted awake once more, this time by someone touching her.

"Good…you've woken." He spoke slowly and deliberately, a voice that she had never known before. She felt the force, the dark side was so strong in him; it made Snoke look like a child in comparison.

"Why are you doing this to me? Have I done something to you?"

"This, my dear, is training. Training for your mind – the most powerful weapon any Jedi or Sith could ever hope to wield, for, in the darkness, anything is possible. No sight gives your imagination free rein to run wild. You are already driven by fear. Every noise is the same as a blaster shot in the night, and your mind and heart both leap. But in that darkness, you will find power. And that power will earn you your freedom."

Her captor's voice had faded. Rey was once again alone. Even though this prison was dark, Rey still closed her eyes to image Kylo Ren once more. This time, it was not just a memory that raced her through her head, but a fantasy. Once in which he offered her his hand, and this time, she placed her own in his. What would he have done? Pulled her into an intimate embrace? She tried to imagine it, the warmth and peace that she felt when they touched hands. That is what she imaged his embrace would feel like. As she stepped back to look at him, the image was wrong. He was sad…he was crying…. did Kylo Ren even know how to cry?

Kylo Ren glanced up as he pushed the tears from his eyes, but more continued to flow.

"Rey….I can't see where you are. Tell me where you are. Please."

"I don't know."

"Can you see anything?" he sunk to his knees beside her.

"Dark." She whispered. "Ben….I don't think I'm going to live much longer." Rey's breaths were shallow and quick, she was sobbing too. "I had hoped through all this, I'd turn out to be important in this story. To mean something in the galaxy. But I was wrong, I'm nothing, and I'll die as nothing."

"Don't say that. Don't you ever say that! You're not nothing, not to me." Kylo Ren focused his thoughts and placed his fingertips on top of her hand. He could feel her icy skin, he could sense her fear and her pain, he could sense her life force was running thin. "I'm coming for you, I promise."

His gentle touch ended with a jolt of lightning that burned the edges of his fingertips and knocked him backward in shock. Staring down at his hand, he made the connection while seething with anger. Rey was being electrocuted, that was why their force bond was continuously getting interrupted. Whoever was doing this to Rey would pay with their life.

It had been nearly 18 hours since Rey first spoke to him. She was clearly being tortured, and he couldn't help her. He had to find her, and soon. For now, his goal was to not blow his own command ship to pieces with all the hate build up inside of him. To calm his mind, he tried to relieve the memory of just moments ago, where he was able to connect with Rey by touching her through the force. He could see the curve of her face so clearly, the tears in her eyes, the burned skin and scaring around her temples, but not her surroundings.

How many hours had it been? Or was it days? She couldn't remember. Perhaps there was now some trace of light in her prison…or maybe she had been in the darkness for so long that her eyes finally adjusted. She thought it was odd, all of these funny metal rounds poking out from the walls, whose layers climbed the walls up to the sky. That dark presence was near her once more.

"What are they?" she asked.

"Relics, my dear. Relics of a past long forgotten. But now, we must look ahead to the future. A new order will reign, my final order. And you, my dear, will be the key to this new future."

"Well, your final order has to first contend with the current order, or do they all work for you already? And I'm not the key to anything. I'm just a scavenger girl, I am not anyone important."

"Is that what Kylo Ren tells you?"

Rey froze, figuratively anyway, her body was already bound so tightly she couldn't move an inch. This person, this creature, was so strong with the force – surely they must already know of her connection with Kylo Ren.

"I doubt Kylo Ren would ask a silly scavenger girl to rule beside him if he didn't think she was someone very important and powerful. Yes….I know you've been speaking to him….and I allowed it. Just long enough for him to catch a glimpse at your predicament before I snatch it away from him. Heh heh heh. His hate is growing, ever-growing stronger. Soon, I'll allow you to tell him where we are, and he will come for you, and that is when, my dear, you will prove yourself worthy and kill him, or he will prove that he truly is the strongest wielder of the force in the galaxy and end you. In fact, I think it is time," he continued. "Do it, call out to him again and tell him where we are."

"I won't!" Rey closed her eyes only to feel the rush of electricity through her body once more. Each time it seemed longer than the last until; eventually, Rey was choking on her own blood coming out of her mouth, unable to turn her head she tried to spit it into the air with all her strength.

"Call out to him." The man ordered. Rey didn't have the strength, even if she wanted to. Whether it was her subconscious, the force itself, or another being, Rey found herself joined to him anyway. Kylo Ren was standing over a map of the galaxy – he had every troop on every planet looking for the girl. He sensed Rey and lifted his head to see her, horrified by the sight.

"Rey." He said, desperately moving towards her until he stood by her side, looking down at her. Her face was covered in blood. Who was doing this?

"Young apprentice, she's been waiting for you." The voice called out. "You'd better hurry, I don't know how much longer she will last."

Kylo Ren held Rey's hand in his own. "Who are you?" he asked angrily.

"Come to the place where your grandmother once fought for democracy. Before your noble grandfather, Darth Vader saw what had to be done to truly bring order to the galaxy." Kylo Ren knew immediately where they were.

"I'm coming, Rey." He reached over to touch Rey's face, only to have the vision vanished, leaving his leather glove stained with her blood.

"Ahhh, I see we have a guest." The voice echoed with delight. "Ah, Kylo Ren, commander of the Knights of Ren, and apprentice to Lord Snoke."

"Ben…" Rey gasped, hardly believing it.

Though his helmet had all the latest tech for seeing in low light, Kylo Ren still felt foolish fumbling around the dark. He wasn't able to see any heat sources, no signs of life, and around every corner was more of the same—nothing.

Upon entering the main chamber of the senate, he saw the faintest heat signature opposite him, and in his rush towards it, found the tiles of the floor beneath him beginning to rise. Keeping his saber after at the ready, he felt the swarm of power in the air. Whoever this was, they were much stronger than Snoke.

"So nice of you to join us, boy." The voice continued. "I can feel the darkness and hatred inside you. Snoke was a fool to underestimate you, but I will make no such mistake. I know you've come for the girl."

"I killed Snoke, I'll kill you unless you hand the girl over to me." Kylo Ren sounded calm and composed.

"Now, why would I do that?"

"Because I'll kill you if you don't." Kylo Ren continued to spin about looking for the source of this voice, which seemed to be coming from everywhere. Ren could see the red glow his saber floating the darkness above her. "Ben!" she screamed, her voice echoing in the chamber.

"Quiet!" the voice boomed, annoyed, and the bright flashes of blue and white illuminated the floor of the chamber as Kylo Ren, finally able to see Rey clearly, felt the contents of his stomach rise as the sight of electricity entering her every limb. He tried to jump off the floating ledge but was knocked back with the force.

"Enough!" Kylo Ren shouted. The flashes below him ceased, and once more, everything below was shrouded in darkness.

"Foolish boy – you have no idea the power I wield over you."

"What do you want?" he asked in desperation.

"I want you, my dear apprentice, to continue your training. Stop acting like a spoiled child, and become a true master of the force, and I shall give you what Snoke never could."

"You'll die first. I, serve, no one." Kylo Ren said deliberately.

The voice laughed. "My dear boy, you have been serving me since your birth. I have been every voice you have ever heard in your head!" Kylo Ren could have sworn he heard the voice of Snoke, of Darth Vader, and finally, of a voice that he had heard before, one that used to haunt his dreams before Snoke found him.

"Palpatine…" he realized. "That's not possible, you died at the hands of Darth Vader."

"I've died before. The dark side is ripe with power….power that some may find…unnatural." In front of Kylo Ren stood what looked like a corpse of the old emperor. Tubes and needles covered his body, all of which connected to machinery pumping liquids and hissing fumes. "Join me, and I will give you what Snoke never could."

"What could you possibly offer me that warrants sparing your life, if that is what you call your current state?"

"Everything." He replied. Connecting with Kylo Ren through the force, Palpatine showed him visions of the Final Order Fleet, of Kylo Ren defeating his enemies in battle, and of him seated on a black throne before all the sith long past. "All I ask is your absolute loyalty. A demonstration, if you will."

Kylo Ren walked toward the unnatural being, pulling his lightsaber from his belt. Down on one knee, he offered his lightsaber to Palpatine. Using the force, Palpatine pulled the lightsaber to himself and seemed ecstatic when he unleashed its red glow.

"A good apprentice must be subservient." Palpatine grinned, and with a wave of his hand, a sith or perhaps a ghost approached Kylo Ren and ran his blade across the dark Jedi's back. He let out a moan at the pain but remained ever still. A kick to his gut and then to his shoulder knocked him on the ground. Not once did he raise his hands to fight back.

"Ben…." Rey cried out softly, barely conscious. What was he doing? Did he really hope to kill Palpatine, or was he truly interested in becoming a sith apprentice once more? What would happen to her, she wondered.

"Take off your mask," Palpatine ordered. Back on his knees, Kylo Ren removed his mask and offered it to one of the sith ghosts. The guard immediately backhanded Kylo Ren across the face with his own mask, leaving his face bloody. "Good…your hate is consuming you; I feel darkness in you the likes of which haven't been seen in this galaxy for centuries."

"Give me the girl, and I will strike her down as proof of my loyalty." Ren spat blood as he spoke.

"Do you take me for a fool, boy? No…I think a much better display of loyalty will be to watch your precious scavenger girl meet her end." Palpatine ignited the red lightsaber and descended to the floor with the floated ledge holding Kylo Ren following suit. Palpatine held out the blade to Rey's throat, and she could feel its heat on her skin.

"If you kill me….he will kill you." Rey pleaded.

"That, my dear, is exactly the idea…" Palpatine raised his hand to strike before the walls of the cavern seemed to shake. With a loud and forceful scream, Kylo slammed both his fists to the floor of the senate chamber and released a force wave so powerful that all the ghosts were knocked out of existence, though Palpatine himself seemed unaffected. Not letting himself be fooled again after what happened on Crait, he knew at that moment that Palpatine wasn't actually here, he was only a force projection.

Kylo Ren raised his hand, and concentrating all his strength at his own lightsaber used the force to push Palpatine away from Rey before he could strike. Palpatine may have been a projection, but the lightsaber was as real as Kylo Ren himself. In realizing that he had lost control of the weapon, Palpatine discarded the lightsaber, shooting it, blade first, toward Rey, only to have Kylo Ren pull it to himself.

"We're not finished yet," Palpatine smirked before flicking his wrist to reactivate the electric shock. Rey's mind sizzled in the blue volts, and her entire body pulsated with pain. It was only seconds but felt like an eternity before Kylo Ren destroyed the machine that powered those electric pulses. Rey's body still bounced uncontrollably on the table beneath her restraints. The mix of blood, burning flesh, and smoke filled the Senate Chamber.

Kylo Ren said nothing, a slash of his crossguard cut the metal restraint on her head away and turned her face toward his. Rey couldn't form thoughts, let alone words. Everything was a blur, though she thought that she could hear Kylo Ren's voice echoing her name. Cutting away all her restraints, he found the parts of her wrists and ankles that were not burned were rubbed raw.

Lifting her shoulders to pull her body toward him, he looked for any sign of life of her eyes, in her pulse, in her breath, and found her so weak that she would surely die within minutes. Even in the darkness, he could sense her life fading away. In her final moments, he held her close, wrapping his cloak around her, he cried, "I'm sorry, Rey."

"Save her." A voice in his head called out, that of Luke Skywalker. "Save her and save yourself."

"I don't know how!"

"Yes, you do. It takes light and sacrifice and selflessness to give life. If you want to save her, give of yourself to her." The voice faded.

Trying to control his emotion, he placed his hand on her heart and began to concentrate. The power needed was incredible, and he felt himself grow dizzy. As she inhaled deeply, her heart beat to life as Kylo Ren passed out from his efforts and collapsed overtop of her.

In her dreams, Rey felt Kylo Ren's power in her bones, she felt his hatred for the galaxy, his distress that he would never live to be as great as Darth Vader, the haunting in his soul from killing Han, and finally fear. Raw, untamed, and unmatched fear that losing Rey would forever damn him to being the one thing he was most afraid of…alone.

As Kylo Ren recovered consciousness, he quickly lifted Rey to him once more and was relieved at the sound of her breathing. Picking her up as gently as he was able, Kylo Ren carried Rey from the Galactic Senate Chamber back to his Silencer before putting out a secure message to his Knights of Ren. "Palatine lives and he must be destroyed. Find out where he's hiding. And hell Hux to broadcast a message across the galaxy, let them all know that the dead still seem to speak."