The Last Jedi: The Spark of Rebellion

Tainted Love: Part Two

Author's note: I'm posting today because Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I had a comment about how Kylo and Rey were fighting when it's almost Valentine's Day! So I felt bad about that and decided to try and do a Reylo chapter for Valentine's Day. Well, it's Reylo for sure but not a typical romance scene. I searched these characters for a romantic connection yet their pain is too deep rooted for a typical romance. Nevertheless I gave it my best and am posting this for Valentine's Day! Thanks for reading!

REY

I set my bag onto Kylo's bed and shove two pairs of extra clothes into it, from the drawer where I'd found the others. My fingers feel numb as I do it.

I want to be mad. I want to hate Kylo, but the emotion keeps slipping away, leaving only pain, a pain so familiar that I can almost see the Jakku sunset across the desert, they way it looked when I'd sit outside to eat before nighttime set in. The time of day I felt the loneliest. I can still feel the metal piece in my hand, the one I used for scratching a mark onto the wall inside the AT-AT, where I marked all the days gone by. Today feels like one of those days that need to be marked on my wall.

  Mom, dad, where did you go? Why did you leave?

I walk over to the control panel and try to access the ship's computer. 'Access denied' flashes across the screen.

I look back at the bag on the bed. Should I leave my stuff here and share a room with Kylo? Should I tell him I'll join him after all? But I'm not sure I know what that even means to him. Plus, he said I'd already had my chance. He seemed quite sure this time.

I pick up the bag from the bed and set it onto my shoulder, then remember the beacon. I'd almost forgotten it! I put it over my neck. Finn, where are you? I miss you. I smile, remembering Finn's Porg 'Hanso.' Only Finn would think to befriend with a Porg. He's so easy to be friends with, open and honest. You're a lucky girl, Rose.

Suddenly I wonder if they're in trouble. I'll tell General Leia I want to fly to the Otomok system tomorrow. It's been too long without contact. I have to make sure they're okay.

I shift the bag on my shoulder and head out of the room. Deciding to go looking for Finn and Rose is already making me feel better.

I walk aimlessly down a few halls, my mind distracted, then realize I have no specific destination. I just wanted to get out of Kylo's room. Where was the Command Center again? I take a left turn and recognize the row of windows. Yes, this way. I remember Poe's smile during our walk down this corridor just this morning, and suddenly I really want to see him.

I hurry my steps. Maybe he'll be in the Command Center. He mentioned he'd be doing a meeting with the pilots today.

When I reach the Command Center it is empty, except for General Leia and another First Order General, a tall man with red hair, perfectly combed back.

"The Space Stations are not heavily guarded," General Leia says. "Which is a surprise."

"There might be some other security measures we're not aware of," the other general says. "Like a long-range weapon set on a base planet nearby, aimed at the space station. We should send in scouts first to have a look."

"What if they can detect our cloaking shields? How advanced do you suppose their patrol systems are at these stations?"

"We'd have to assume they have the best technology, since they're taking over all technological systems."

General Leia sighs. "If they can see us, we have no chance."

"They're robots," the red headed General says with a smirk. "They aren't able to deduce when a human is lying. We'll pretend to surrender and say we're joining them, just to get inside. It may have to be a suicide mission for a few pilots, to transport a bomb in, perhaps, but well worth it."