Star Wars Episode IX: Force Link ✔️ (Editing)

2| More Than A Nightmare

Rey changed from her bedclothes into her black and gray outfit and got ready for the day ahead.

When she had finished getting ready, it was still very early. She considered going out of her room and making some repairs to the Falcon, but everyone else was still asleep and didn't want to wake them.

She laid down and tried to force herself to fall back to sleep, but it was useless. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the dark figure of Kylo Ren, and she remembered the searing pain of his blade in her stomach. It had felt so real.

She got up and began to pace back and forth across the floor. She had to distract herself somehow, so she began to look for something to keep her mind off of things.

But the more she tried to push Kylo Ren and the nightmare out of her mind, the more they seemed to surface. It continued to get worse until she began to feel something in the Force, a connection...a link. Now she could feel a familiar presence, a dark presence, and she was filled with fear. She knew who was causing this feeling.

But she felt more than fear, she felt anger as well.

"You!" she shouted, turning suddenly.

She turned to face the dark figure. It was Kylo Ren, just as she had suspected.

He opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him. "Stay away from me, Kylo Ren!" she yelled.

He just ignored it and continued with what he had intended to say. "Rey ... are you okay?" he asked.

There was concern in his voice, but Rey paid it no attention. "I was perfectly fine... until you appeared!" she snapped.

But Kylo could tell that she was lying, he could hear it in her voice, sense it in the Force, he could feel the fear within her. He stared at her until she met his gaze. His dark brown eyes pierced her soul.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" he asked.

"How do you know that?" she asked, confused. She had been blocking him from reading her thoughts, he couldn't have used the Force to see it. Suddenly she realized... "You caused it, didn't you?"

"No, I had a nightmare of my own," he replied, surprised that she thought that he was capable of doing such a thing. "And I feel the same emotions within you that I am feeling within myself."

"He's lying," Rey thought silently, forgetting he could hear her thoughts.

"I'm not lying," he replied, she could hear his voice in her head, but that wasn't what surprised her. He wasn't angry, he had answered her calmly, almost gently, even though she had just called him a lier. And that's what made her believe that he was telling the truth.

She used the Force to sense his emotions. She was surprised to find that he was feeling the same emotions as she was, only in reverse, like a mirror image. She realized that much about him was a mirror image of herself, alike but in reverse. They were both strong with the Force, both struggled between the light and dark sides of the Force. But while she was on the Light Side, with a little of the Dark Side within her, he was on the Dark Side, with a little of the Light Side in him.

As she sensed his emotions, her fear of him disappeared... he was afraid. This wasn't a monster who stood before her, but a frightened boy who needed her help.

"What did you see?" she whispered. She spoke gently as if trying to coax a frightened creature out of hiding.

Kylo who had been holding her gaze turned away quickly. Tears were threatening to pour from his eyes, and he didn't want to risk Rey seeing them.

"Tell me, please... Ben," she begged him gently.

Hearing his name... his real name, Kylo returned his gaze to the girl. He realized that because she had called him Ben, her anger and fear towards him were slowly fading. She was beginning to see through the monster on the outside to the part of him that few had ever seen. "I ... I killed you," he answered in a quiet shaky voice, his eyes moist.

Rey gasped. "I ..." she began but was unable to continue speaking.

"You saw it too?" he asked softly, sensing the cause of her fear and hesitation.

All Rey could do was nod.

"What do you think it means?" she asked after a moment.

"I don't know," he answered.

They were both silent for a moment.

"How are we still connected through the Force?" Rey asked. "I thought Snoke bridged our minds, but he's dead."

"Maybe he didn't tell us everything," Kylo answered. "Honest isn't exactly a word I would use to describe him."

Rey nodded.

"Rey, are you afraid of me?" he asked.

"No ..." She answered quickly but realized he would be able to see through her lie. She realized that by being honest with him, she was encouraging him to be honest with her, so she continued. "Well, I was, but not anymore."

"You don't see me as a monster anymore?" he asked.

"No," she replied.

"But you were right, I am a monster."

"Ben, you're not a monster," she insisted.

"But I killed you. You were unarmed and helpless, ...and I killed you."

"That wasn't you Ben," she replied.

"It was me," he answered. There was a tremble in his voice, it was almost unnoticeable, but Rey knew it was there, she had sensed it more than heard it.

"Then why are you afraid?" she asked gently.

He looked down for a moment before meeting her gaze again. "Rey... do you know what it's like to be afraid of yourself?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, but she sensed that he didn't believe her, so she continued. "When the Force awoke within me, I didn't know what it was or how to control it, I was afraid of it... of myself."

They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment, before their Force bond ended.