Coldness. Silence. Darkness.

An emptied mind.

Nothing.

It was Rey’s first day of training under Kylo’s guidance. She woke up with him standing by her bed that morning and her first impulse, when she saw him, was to take off the covers and reach out to hug him. But he stopped her with his hand.

‘’No.’’

Rey was confused, but he didn’t wait anymore for her to figure things out, therefore he continued:

‘’From now on I am your teacher before anything else and I take the lessons very serious. You will do as I say, no questions. What I am about to teach you today involves your own emotions and how to control them in order to use them as a weapon as well as a defense mechanism. You will not like it, but your training will require you to return to the Cave. Not only I will be able to stay with you for as long as needed without consuming my spiritual energy at this high rate that I am now, but it will offer you the perfect environment and situations that I’ve prepared for you.’’

Coldness. Silence. Darkness.

An emptied mind.

Nothing.

Since the moment Rey stepped in the Cave that day, this was her first trial: to find an understanding of the abyss. He warned her of the dangers of having emotions brought up once she steps in: they would work against her. So she tried her best to empty up her mind and it worked, but only for a short amount of time. Rey thought she will be ready because she found her peace before by using the Force before, but she did not consider that it can work against her as well.

Water. Waves.

Small waves in the beginning from what she was able to figure out, although she couldn’t feel them, even if she could hear like she is standing in the middle of it all. Her heart rate slightly increased, she could hear the beatings of her own heart. And with them, the water was suddenly covering her feet, until her ankles.

Sand. Cold water. Bare feet.

I can feel the sand… but when I came in, I had shoes…

The water slowly increased it’s level until it reached her knees. And then she remembered that she wasn’t allowed to think or have any emotion. She panicked, and with that, the water raised it’s level more, until her waist.

I’m not thinking anything, I have an empty mind, I’m not thinking, I’m with an empty mind, I am…

But now the water was up until her collar bone and it was very cold. She was freezing. And panicking more. She was afraid.

And because of that, she heard one last wave building up towards her direction before the water took over her, the sandy ground disappeared and now she was sinking more and more, despite her futile attempts at swimming back up to the surface. She was out of oxygen in her lungs and everything around her was pitch black, nothing, no light, just the water dragging her to an endless bottom.

Defend yourself.

Those words were not hers. It was Kylo’s voice and she understood what he meant. The only way to defend herself was not through an empty mind anymore. She had to transform her thoughts and feelings into her advantage now that she was in danger. All that came in her mind was the memory of hugging him that evening. And the kiss.

She started feeling warmer and warmer and then she hit what she thought was ground, sand, and the water lowered it’s level slowly until she felt it no more.

Waves in the distance. Peace. Warmth.

Light.

She didn’t notice until that moment that in fact her eyes were closed the whole time and now when she opened them, she saw the warm rays of a Sunset, standing on the beach with bare feet and a long, white dress. The ocean was peaceful and of an incomparable beauty. The place didn’t look familiar to her, but somehow it felt like home. A feeling she never had before.

Two strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind and pulled her closer. She didn’t have to turn around to know it was Kylo. He brought his lips closer to her ear and spoke with a low voice:

‘’We are each other’s home. And this place does exist. I found it by destiny, and it looks like yours was to come here as well. But look towards the ocean, don’t turn around. Behind us right now, there is a wall-like portal that shows the place where you came from: darkness of which evil forces fuel its existence. Nothing will happen for the moment as long as I am here, but it’s time for the second part of your lesson: how to fight back.’’

‘’Kylo...’’ Rey finally spoke after taking in a deep breath. ‘’I am ready.’’

‘’So be it, my dear.’’ His words were her last reassurance of peace before she turned around and saw what he meant earlier by the word evil.

He was there no more with her to protect her from what she was about to face. The wall he spoke about looked like it had no end and no beginning. Her world of peace was stopping at one point and from there on, another one started and there was no way of going back. The only way was forward. She remembered his words that it was time to fight back and she was ready for it.

Rey stepped in the new world, but instead of darkness, what awaited her was a burning village in the middle of nowhere. It was night time, an Imperial space shuttle was behind her when she looked. The portal disappeared. She was in a new world that looked just as realistic as the other one, but with no ‘’don’t look behind’’ warnings anymore. There were dozens of stormtroopers scattered around and one of them approached her:

‘’Your Highness, the Resistance fled after the attack. We are looking for survivors, but there is no result so far.’’

Rey looked past him, at the flames that were turning what once was called life, into nothing more than dust. They were all dead and she somehow knew it. She swore to protect them, she hid them there where the Resistance would not find them, but she was too late, she arrived too late. She failed.

Grief. Chaos. Vengeance.

She did not wait a second more and took off running as fast as she could through the burning village. She made a gesture with her hand and felt the Force move aside from her path the fire, leaving an open road towards a single goal: find the ones responsible for this and kill them all until the very last one. She kept running and running, feeling closer and closer the presence of a malicious entity, one that had something to do with it. One of the Resistance traitors stayed behind the others, trying to have a look at the prize: to see Rey’s reaction.

She was running after him and although she wasn’t able to spot him physically through the forest yet, she could hear branches cracking and desperate footsteps.

Desperate.

Her victim was desperate and she was going to use that in her advantage. She would not kill him without torturing him first. She needed information of their whereabouts. Rey used the Force once more, this time to infiltrate in her victim’s mind and control his thoughts. She wanted him anxious, insecure and to think he was betrayed by his own kind. She was going to deceive him.

Sudden darkness.

Everything disappeared. Rey felt a strong force pull her out of there and throw her out of the Cave, making her fall on her back on the cold ground. It was evening already as she laid there, trying to process everything that happened. She was confused, why everything stopped out of a sudden? And who were the people she swore to protect? And why someone from resistance that betrayed her when she was with them, not against. And why highness?

‘’Everything will be revealed in time. But your emotions were too heightened and you couldn’t handle them all of a sudden without intensive training.’’ Kylo was once more standing by, lending her a helping hand.

‘’Who were the villagers?’’ asked Rey while she got up with his help. He kissed her on the forehead but remained silent. She felt him tense up. Something was wrong. ‘’Who were the villagers, I asked.’’ She was growing inpatient so she took a step back, fixing him with her eyes. She didn’t want secrets anymore. Not with him.

‘’I cannot tell you. Everything will be revealed in time, as I said. It was a vision what you had. It was also the reason why you were thrown out, you were going to take drastic actions in what was meant to simply show you a possible future outcome.’’ Kylo was trying his best to remain calm and explain her what he believed she should have had knowledge of already. But he was patient with her as he saw great potential, even if she was only in her raw form for that moment.

Kylo took a step towards her and added:

‘’Until next time.’’ But instead of moving, he just stood still, waiting for her reaction. He didn’t want to force himself on her.

Rey looked up at him. He saw in her eyes confusion, sadness, fear, yet a strong determination to become better. She was going to miss him. And so would he. Therefore he took off his glove from his right hand and touched her hair with his fingers, feeling her soft hair underneath his touch. He didn’t want to leave like that, but he knew Rey was going through many emotional ups and downs in those moments so he felt the better thing to do is to just kiss her head on top, brushing his lips against her hair. She closed her eyes for a moment then wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him down towards her to kiss him. Her kiss was shy because she was self conscious. She never had anything to do with a man before him, and their first kiss happened too fast for her to even understand what was going on.

He kissed her back, but he didn’t want to stop so he took the lead instead. She felt his tongue on her lips so she instinctively opened up her mouth slightly, letting him guide her. Rey’s heart was beating fast as she felt warm waves flowing through her entire body. It made her happy, ecstatic even, but also desiring of him to explore her body with his hands. She wanted to feel more of him as Kylo read her thoughts, complying to her silent request. He pushed her towards him, digging his fingers in her skin as he ran his hands on her back while the kisses got more and more heightened up. He couldn’t resist the urge anymore and lowered his hands from her lower back, grabbed her ass and pushed her pelvis towards his, making her feel the results of her body so close to his. Kylo’s passionate kisses trailed off from her lips down to her chin and then her neck, licking it, kissing it, biting it softly, and making Rey escape a moan because of the new warm feelings that she was experiencing at her core. She didn’t know what they were, but they made her long for Kylo to touch her more, explore her entire body.

But in that moment he suddenly stopped and took a slight distance from her, breathing heavily. His eyes were dark with desire and so were hers. Rey’s cheeks were bright red and she was confused. She didn’t want him to stop.

‘’Believe me, as much as I desire, we cannot go further now. I want to worship you and your body the right way, while both of us are physically present, not just through a Force projection. You are the most precious to me and I know how much you deserve. Let me give you the world, not just a figment of it.’’ Kylo’s voice was coarse, it was hard for him to refrain from going any further, but they both deserved more. And his energy was running low as well. He had to leave. So he kissed her again, this time in a softer, more careful manner.

Rey didn’t want to see him go, but she knew he had to. So she took his hand in hers and placed his palm on her chest, at her heart. ‘’Come back to me soon… I will wait you…’’ were her final words before he vanished into the unknown once more.