THE HUNT

Seventeen

"It's been a while." Kylo says from behind his mask. I watch from the corner, arms crossed. The wookie roars, and Kylo says nothing for a long while. "No. I don't regret it." He steps closer to the captive, who kneels on the ground, surrounded by torture devices I'm glad were never used on me. Kylo crouches down to the beast's level. "I'd do it again." 

A pained howl pulls from the animal's lips, and I stand straighter, intrigued now. 

So he wasn't lying on Pasaana. He knows Kylo.

"Chava." Kylo lifts a hand, sensing my interest. Ice prickles down my spine as he uses the name I've just found. "Would you like to show Chewbacca here some of your skills?" 

"Which ones?" I smirk behind my mask, bowing at the waist to get a better look at the wookie. Kylo is silent for a long while, and I turn back. 

Did I overstep?

But his shoulders are shaking, and I realize that he's laughing. Humour builds in my own chest. The wookie looks appalled, and I stand up straight. 

"The fun ones, sweetheart." He removes his helmet, watching the prisoner. "You should have been taken out of this war a long time ago, Chewbacca." 

I deactivate my own mask, reaching to my belt for a knife, but Kylo stops me. 

"What's the matter?"

"He flew with my father." He says, biting out the last word. I feel my eyes widen, wishing for the force bond again more than I ever have. 

Does he want me to take it easy? Does he want me to really dig in and hurt the beast?

So I hand Kylo the knife. He hesitates for a moment, but takes it, weighing the hilt in his hand. 

Then the beast howls. 

Kylo's jabbed the knife into the beast's stomach up to the hilt. I blink, surprised. 

"Kylo-"

He moves his mouth beside the wookie's ear. 

"Does this hurt?" He asks softly. Chewbacca only whimpers. "Han Solo felt only a fraction of this pain. He was cooked from the inside." 

The wookie headbutts him in the nose, and Kylo stumbles back. I move forward to defend my lover, but he does it before I can. He backhands him, teeth gritted. 

"Kylo-" Bile rises in my throat, and for some reason I avert my gaze. 

Then his comm beeps, and someone on the other end tells him that we've arrived at Kijimi. Kylo stands, pressing a kiss to my cheek before putting his helmet back on. 

"I'll be back." He tells the wookie. I activate my mask, following him from the cell. 

"Are you just going to leave my knife in there?" I ask, keeping pace with him. He shrugs. 

"Wookies heal faster and have different anatomical designs. He'll live for now. Good catch." I nod, and he places his hand on my lower back. I feel myself relax. "It'll be okay, Chava." 

"Say it again." I breathe. "My name." He pauses, lowering his helmet to be on my level. 

"Chava." 

I melt, heart pounding. 

"Still doesn't feel right." I mutter. 

"A new name never does at first." 

****

"Rey." Kylo's filtered voice echoes on the snowy streets of Kijimi. I whirl around, seeing the girl step out of a shadow that doesn't exist. "Wherever you are, you are hard to find." 

"You're hard to get rid of." She says, lightsaber ignited. 

"I pushed you in the desert because I needed to see it." The image of a transport being brought to the ground by arcs of lightning from her fingertips flashes in my mind. "I needed you to see it." He pauses. "Who you are. I know the rest of your story." I scoff as she turns away. "Rey." She spins back around, lifting her saber. 

"You're lying." She whispers tearfully. 

"I never lied to you." He begins to pace towards her. "Your parents were no one. They chose to be, to keep you safe." 

"Don't!" She snaps breathlessly. 

"You remember more than you say. I've been in your head." 

"I don't want this!" She cries. 

"Search your memories."

"No!" She screams, swinging her saber. He leaps backwards, igniting his own weapon to counter her second swing. I place a hand on my sword, but Kylo lifts a hand in my direction in a clear order. Don't. 

"Remember them." He demands, watching her through his mask. "See them." She closes her eyes for a second, then gasps as she snaps them open again, breaking free of their stationary lock. They begin to pace in a circle. "They sold you to protect you." 

"Stop talking!"

"Rey, I know what happened to them." She yells, striking his saber. Her blade cuts into a basket of berries, which spill across the ground. She angrily continues to attack him, but Kylo is unfazed, blocking calmly. "Tell me where you are." He demands. I frown. She's right here. "You don't know the whole story." She attacks him again, and I decide not to question him. "It was Palpatine who had your parents taken. He was looking for you." She shakes her head. Silnaa was the one taken from my side of the family, I guess. I have no power. I'm nothing compared to Rey and Silnaa. "He was looking for you." Kylo continues. "But they wouldn't say where you were, so he gave the order." 

"No!" Rey lunges forward, attacking him once more. Suddenly, a black object thuds into the snow from nowhere. I watch it for a moment before turning my gaze back to the fight. Not questioning it. 

They both look down at it, and I know where it's from. 

It's the disfigured helmet in Kylo's trophy room. 

She's in our quarters. 

"So that's where you are." He says softly. Chills break across my skin, not from the cold. She swings again, and he blocks, keeping her in place. "You know why the Emperor's always wanted you dead." 

"No." She whispers. 

"I'll come tell you." He says, pulling away. 

Then she's gone. He reaches down the pick up the mask, turning to a stormtrooper. 

"Kylo-" 

"She was in my quarters." He lifts a hand to the soldier. "Lock down the ship."

"What was that?" I ask, chasing after him as he marches towards where he left the TIE-Fighter. 

"Force bond." He growls. "Snoke's doing."

"Snoke's dead." I protest. Kylo pauses. 

"Snoke is Palpatine, Chava."