Chapter Text
Rey often finds herself meditating in the forest of Ajan Kloss, searching for answers within the Force, or practicing her lightsaber forms with a training droid. Most of all, she longs to one day connect with the Jedi of the past, hoping that they can give her answers about the galaxy and her place in it. She's read all of the Jedi texts front to back but she still has trouble making sense of it all.
Currently she’s high in the air with rocks floating around her in the circle, concentrating all her energy on reaching out. She repeats her usual mantra in an eerily calm voice, almost a trance. “Be with me… be with me… be with me.”
“Do you honestly think they’ll answer you this time?”
The familiar voice breaks her concentration, sending her crashing to the ground along with all the rocks. Instinct causes her hands to jut out in front of her, the Force thankfully kicking in at the right moment to stop her from hitting the forest floor. She hovers just a few inches from the ground before letting herself gently land.
Looking up in annoyance, she finds him standing there between the trees. She gets to her feet and reaches back to put her hand on the saber she recently repaired with help from the Jedi texts. The crystal sparks sometimes from the crack, causing the blade to fizzle a little too much like Kylo’s red crossblade for her liking, but it’s fixed and it works.
“Go away.”
Her command doesn’t faze him in the slightest. He looks around even though she knows he can’t see her surroundings. “Where’s my mother decided to hide now?”
“I’ll never tell you.”
Kylo takes a step closer to her, but Rey keeps her ground. She hasn’t been afraid of him in a long time. They've been inside each others' mind too long for fear or intimidation to work.
“My forces will find the Resistance eventually. Don’t get caught on the losing side, Rey.”
There’s an edge to his voice when he says her name, almost daring as if to caress the word, but she elects to ignore it. She needs to keep up the role of adversaries. “I’d rather be on the losing side than the wrong one.”
He readjusts his jaw like he normally does when he’s embarrassed and she knows she hit a nerve.
Kylo gets a glint in his eyes as he changes his tactic. “I’m going to take a guess that you’re not aware of what happened as you’re still searching the Force for the Jedi.”
His switch in conversation just causes her confusion. She doesn’t want to play into his little game, but she can’t deny that he didn’t make her curious. “Aware of what?”
The glint gets bigger knowing he’s caught her in the trap. He just has to reel her in. “You must be pretty far out in the galaxy for it to not reach you.” Kylo tries to keep the smirk from his face, but he can feel it getting bigger.
Rey’s annoyance grows in tandem with his smirk. “What are you talking about?”
“The message.” They start to slowly move, circling each other in the intricate dance they’ve both grown accustomed to with each other.
She’s really getting tired of his vague answers, her anger starting to bubble up inside and she hates that he knows it. “What message?”
Kylo suddenly stops and stares straight at her, that roguish smirk he got from his father still faintly upon his face. “He’s back.”
The way he says it unnerves her. “Who? Who’s back?”
“Emperor Palpatine himself.”
The mere idea is so preposterous that she can’t help but let out a airy laugh in disbelief. “You’re lying.”
His face gets serious and he takes a step closer to her causing her to have to look upwards. “I’ve never lied to you.”
Rey has no reply. She knows he’s right.
“Besides… I’ve seen him with my own eyes.”
She shakes her head. “That’s impossible,” she replies in a quiet tone.
All he does is tilt his head to the side in a way that’s reminiscent of Han. “Maybe. But it’s true nonetheless.”
She decides to venture into his information. If he is telling the truth she needs to know more. “Why’s he back?” she asks, looking at him cautiously but with curiosity.
The smirks makes its way back onto his face as his only answer is to faintly shrug his shoulders. He stands there tall and smug knowing that he’s got her where he wants her. At this moment he has her pulled in and he’s the only one who can answer the questions he knows she's just yearning to ask.
Rey decides she’s done with his coyness. Grabbing the saber, she ignites it down at her side, her annoyance fully bubbling over. “Why is he back, Kylo?”
Quickly, he rushes forward within a foot of her and grabs her shoulders. “Join me, and I’ll tell you.”
Through pure instinctual reaction, Rey swings her saber through him but she’s only met with air as he vanishes from her sight. “BEN!” she screams in anger. Birds flutter away, scared by the sudden noise.
She stands there breathing hard in annoyance when her saber crackles once down by her side pulling her from her thoughts of the encounter. Rey extinguishes her saber and places it back on her belt.
His newfound information circles round and round in her head. She starts to race back to camp. If Palpatine truly is back Leia needs to know. The Resistance needs to do something before he gets to the First Order.
She reaches the base just as Poe is walking down the ramp of the Falcon, determination in his eyes as he makes his way straight to Leia. The sight of him brings her back to reality.
She can’t tell anyone.
If she does, they’ll wonder how she knows. And she can’t tell them the answer. They can never know.
So she keeps it to herself. Hopefully the intel that Finn and Poe went to get was the same exact message.