The Last Knight

Ch. 11: The Solos

04/10/2023: Edited & reposted

You should have been tired. You had taken a pretty good beating on Takodana, and then another in the library thanks to your wonderful master. It felt amazing when you finally eased your body into bed and curled up under the clean sheets... but sleep never came. You continuously checked your datapad, watching the time tick by as you lost precious hours of slumber.

Your head was pounding from the various times that it had been slammed into the rocky terrain outside Maz Kanada's castle. Your hands ached everywhere from the tiny shards of glass that had been embedded under your skin. You probably should have called for a medic droid to make sure all of the pieces were out, but you didn't have the energy. You couldn't sit there anymore with Cardo being so nice and Vicrul seeming oddly suspicious of you. You wished that you could tell them the truth—that Kylo still hadn't figured out a way into your head. That you had somehow forged a strange connection with him that left you struggling between searing hatred and unexplainable, unprecedented need for him. You wished you could ask them what to do, how to handle this. How to make things go back to normal.

But you couldn't.

So, you just shut your mouth and stared at the ceiling until the noise of your datapad caused you to turn over and groan. Was it really time to wake up already? You had just-

No, it was just a message. From Kylo.

'Need to talk to you'

Sure, like you were supposed to believe he wanted to talk. Not beat the shit out of you. Not choke you to death. You rolled your eyes and tossed the datapad to the side. At the moment, your searing hatred for him was definitely winning out over... whatever else you felt. You squeezed your eyes shut and physically tried to will yourself to sleep. There was no way your body would heal without rest.

Sleep.

Sleep-

You bolted out of bed as the door of your room slowly creaked open. You didn't think, you just acted. You were on your feet in seconds, knees bent and ready to attack, reaching your hand out to summon your lightsaber. However, the moment it crashed into your raw palm, you screamed out in pain and let it fall to the floor.

"Are you okay?" There was no mistaking the deep baritone voice of the man in the doorway. He flicked on the light, illuminating the harsh worry lines that should never be so noticeable on someone so young. His hair and clothing were disheveled like before, but this time his eyes were calm and grounded. If you didn't know any better, you could say he almost reminded you of Ben Solo.

"Shit, you scared me." You braced yourself to pick up your lightsaber, no matter how bad it was going to hurt your raw hands.

"I... needed to talk to you." He took a step forward.

"Don't touch me." You said firmly, backing up. He looked hurt, but you stood your ground. Finally, after a period of silence that lasted a little too long, he held up his hands as if to show you he didn't mean any harm. As if he couldn't kill people with just his bare hands. One flick of his wrist.

You sighed and sat down on the bed in defeat, deciding to trust him for now, if based only on the look in his eyes. You were at least smart enough to know when he was going to hurt you. "What do you want?"

He sat next to you, the bed creaking under his weight. He looked so big compared to your small, standard First Order-issued mattress. "I wanted to... apologize." You were a little surprised he didn't gag on the word "apologize."

"I don't know what's weirder, the fact that you just broke into my room or the fact that Kylo Ren is saying sorry for anything." You mentally kicked yourself as soon as the words tumbled out of your lips. For someone who had recently almost been killed by this man, you were awfully bold. You looked at your hands, watching fresh blood seep through the bandage from the pressure of your saber.