Wayward [Kylo Ren]

XI

XI

Kaida couldn't shake the feeling. They weren't reaching their destination any faster. She felt that reinforcements were gaining. She could feel their life force, if that was even a thing. There were a lot of them. So word must have reached them. Damn troopers.

"We need to pick up the pace, boys," Kaida said to the two men.

"I feel them too," Axel told his sister. He stopped them both, standing as close to his sister as possible. Ben stood before them, black cape billowing in the wind. Kaida looked to her twin, noticing his hard gaze towards their savior.

"Axel?" she whispered.

Axel moved Kaida aside, and she watched in confusion as he stood protectively in front of her. "I was right to not trust you."

"Ax?"

"He's played us, Kai. He's played us from the very start."

"What?"

"There is no outpost, is there?" Axel demanded of Ben. "There's not even a way out of here, is there? The only way we had you led us far away from."

Ben remained silent. Kaida peeked out from behind her brother. He's lying. Ben can't have walked us into a trap. He wants to change. He killed his own troopers for us. How can that be a man who betrays us?

"I know you can't see it, Kai, because somehow you still have feelings for him," Axel said sternly to his sister, "but thankfully, I can see clearly. We were never going to escape. That show back there? It was to gain our trust. Well, yours at least. He doesn't care about my trust, as long as he's got yours."

Kaida now stood beside her brother in the cold, looking to Ben. "Is Axel right?" she asked the man in black. "Was this all a setup?"

The red, unstable, jagged saber came to life in Ben's hand. It was enough of an answer for the Quinn twins. Kaida felt herself shatter inside. To think, I believed him. Here I thought he was capable of change. He deceived us. He deceived me. She held back the tears and the cries building in her throat.

"This was all a game to you," Axel snarled to Ben. "A twisted game, and for what? To screw with us? Congratulations, you've done a fine job of that!"

"There is one way out of this," Ben said softly to the twins. "You can surrender, and you can let me teach you."

"Teach us?" Kaida squeaked.

"Like I told you, Kaida, I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to do bad things to you. This is your way out. You pledge your loyalty to—"

"The Dark Side?" Axel cut him off. "She's not going to, and neither am I! Let the troopers get here! They won't take us, and neither will you!"

"So you believe. Jedi, always assuming that they will win the battle, when in fact, they're on the losing side." Ben took an offensive stature.

"You don't have to do this," Kaida told him. "Benny—"

"Ben Solo died a long time ago."

"I don't believe that." Her voice cracked. "I don't believe he's—you're gone." She moved towards Ben.

"Kai," Axel warned her.

"I don't believe it for a second." Kaida kept her eyes on Ben's in the dark, snowy night. "I don't want to believe that the man I love is dead. That he's not still in there, someway, locked away, fighting. I don't want to believe that you've been lost to the darkness. You have the capability of redemption, Ben. You need to take it. That window is closing, and once it does for good—that's it.

"Stop this."

It didn't take long for someone to spring into action. It wasn't Kaida; it was Ben, who lunged for her. In that instance, Kaida's feet were swept out from under her, and she was catapulted backwards. She landed hard in the snow, and she watched in horror as Axel collided his green blade with Ben's red.

Hastily, Kaida got to her feet, hand hovering over her lightsaber. She wasn't sure if she could do it, fight against Ben. Training was one thing, but when he was on the opposing side...

"If you don't choose the Dark Side, then you choose death," Ben hissed. With a shove, he sent Axel stumbling backwards.

Kaida, at the sight of her little brother in trouble, ignited her saber. She was in deep contrast to the red and green, with her purple. The Quinn twins engaged Ben, with Kaida mostly moving about the outskirts, waiting to get in little strikes. She was reluctant to have to injure Ben.

When Ben slashed Axel, nearly cutting him in half, Kaida lunged for him. But mid-lunge, her body froze in time. It was as though someone hit the pause button on the duel. Kaida's eyes could move, her mouth could move. But nothing else could. Not her saber, which was melting the snow it touched. Not her body, which was straining heavily against the entrapment. What is this?

"Kaida!" Axel shouted.

"I'm not finished with you," Ben told Kaida. She remained in her spot, unmoving, as she watched Ben stalk to her brother. Axel scurried along the snow, blocking Ben's saber from chopping his limbs off. Kaida felt a sweat break out on her brow. I have to get out of this. Axel is in trouble. I need to save him. I need to save Ben. I need to—

A great pain erupted through Kaida's veins, and it wasn't because she was struck.

Ben Solo had cut down her twin right in front of her, and she felt his agony. 

**Axel, my baby noooooo

On a random note: I think I've used this song for major deaths in any of my books.**