Under the Mask

Riddles

888

"How is he?" Leia asked, the crack in her voice giving away her despair to hear some good news, any good news at all.

"He's....." Poe started, but then trailed off. How was Kylo Ren? Mute, traumatized, scared, powerful dangerous.

"He'll be alright. Once the shock wears off. " he said, trying to sound comforting.

Leia rolled her eyes, "You're bad at lying, Poe. Tell me the truth, how is he?"

"Frightened. Alone. Miserable. He was only awake for 5 minutes before I had to sedate him. The dark side of the force is still strong with him. Even tied down and weak he still managed to throw me against the wall before I could administer the sedative." Poe reported, eyes darting back and forth from Leia's face to her clenched fist and back again.

"Once he's seen the light, once he gives up the darkness he'll come back to us. He has to." Leia whispered, and Poe did not miss the deep sadness of her voice, like a mother grieving a lost child.

Poe reached out his hand and touched her shoulder softly.

"He will. It may take some time, but he will." he said

They were silent for a few beats, and then Poe looked up at Leia and smiled.

"Do you remember the Pogo Stick Incident? When we were children?" he asked

Leia rolled her eyes, but then smiled. "How could I forget? When you flew through that window I thought for sure that you were dead. I think that was the only time I ever raised my voice at you two---."

"Hahaha. It so was not. But I can't blame you. We were a couple of troublemakers, weren't we?" he said, smiling.

"I remember one time, late at night you two were having a sleep over. I had gotten up to get a drink of water and I found the both of you in the kitchen, Kylo stacked on top of your shoulders with his little arms reaching for the cookie chair." Leia said, her eyes lighting up at the memory.

"I was laughing too hard to scold you, and the two of you scrambled off with the stolen cookies back to your beds." She said, and then she sighed, eyes looking sad.

"And now he's gone." she asked, looking up at Poe.

"It wasn't your fault, Leia. It was nobody's fault. And he's not gone, just lost in the woods. We just have to find him again."

"We have to." She said

"I know, and we will. It'll just take some time." Poe answered.

He lifted her chin so that their eyes met.

"Don't lose hope."

***

Poe walked through the door into the small room and realized that Kylo's bandages had been removed. The skin, though badly cut by the lightsaber had healed but it had left a dark scar that ran down the bridge of his nose, across his cheek and ended at his chin. Poe smiled slightly and was once again awe inspired by the technology they had on this ship. The had droids that could heal a bone in seconds, and 3D printers that would create prosthetic limbs in less than ten minutes. Why they had waited a week to fix Kylo's wounds, Poe did not know. He suspected that the doctors wanted to treat those who fought in the rebellion first and maybe, just maybe leaving Kylo Ren—the maddened First Order lord that destroyed two planets in one day—to suffer from his injuries was their own way of getting revenge. Some things were just beyond repair though, like Kylo's voice. Both Poe and the doctors knew it was gone forever, and there was nothing they could do to get it back.