Star Wars: Apparitions -- Scenes from The Last Jedi

Chapter 7 - Betrayal

"As soon as I launch, you jump back out of range," Rey told Chewbacca as she lowered herself into the tiny escape pod on the floor of the Falcon's cargo bay. "Stay there until you get my signal for where to rendezvous. If you see everyone before I do, tell them..."

She hesitated, thinking about everything she'd been through...

Chewbacca grumbled something.

Rey smiled. "Yeah, perfect. Tell them that."

Rey took a deep breath and lowered herself to a horizontal position in the pod. She saw Chewbacca's face disappear from the viewport as he walked away to steer the ship. She heard the whir that meant they had jumped into hyperspace, and saw the flash of light that meant they'd left it. The bay doors opened beneath her, and she felt herself tumble out into space. She saw the Falcon grow smaller and smaller as she drifted away. Then it jumped to lightspeed again and everything was empty. Rey could hear her own racing heartbeat. She took another deep breath and tried to relax, but it didn't work. She couldn't stop worrying, couldn't help but long to be back on Ahch-To with the safety of the island and Luke... not to mention the ability to talk to Kylo without fear of the millions of First Order soldiers she was about to fly into.

She'd been so angry during those conversations that she'd failed to appreciate just how safe they'd been.

When the pod touched down, Rey's viewport was obstructed by a cloud of vapor. The first thing she saw when it opened was Kylo Ren, standing over her pod with an unreadable expression on his pale face. Her heart fluttered; he was physically here this time. It was strange to hear the sounds of the hangar around her as she gazed up into his face.

"As a prisoner of the First Order, regulations require that we perform a routine search," he said as she clambered out of the pod and got to her feet.

"What?" Rey whispered as she tried to catch his eyes. But he was staring stonily past her.

Then two stormtroopers appeared behind him, one of them holding a pair of handcuffs.

"Oh," Rey murmured, quickly brushing hair out of her face. "Right. I... have nothing to hide."

Of course: Kylo had to be formal around the stormtroopers. He had a reputation to maintain.

Rey didn't resist as the cuffs were placed around her hands, nor did she resist as one of the troopers removed Luke's lightsaber from her pocket.

"Nothing?" one of the troopers laughed as he turned the saber over to Kylo.

"I believe he once said that was his," Rey said matter-of-factly, nodding at Kylo and trying to tease a bit of emotion out of him.

Kylo nodded stiffly, still avoiding her gaze. "I did."

He turned around and gestured for the troopers to follow him.

Rey didn't dare to speak to Kylo anymore while they walked, but she regularly shot inquisitive glances at his head, trying to tell what he was thinking. He was so distant....

When they entered the bright elevator at the other end of the hangar, the stormtroopers finally left them. Rey immediately turned to Kylo— but he was still staring at the wall above her head. His features were so stoic he might as well have not seen her. Rey's confidence wavered, but she edged closer to him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked cautiously.

"You need to stop talking to me," Kylo said, his expression barely shifting as he pushed the words out of the corner of his mouth.

"Why?" Rey asked. "There's no one here. Unless you have audio receptors in these elevators....?"

Kylo shook his head. "No."