THE APPRENTICE ➛ Kylo Ren

⁽ ⁷ ⁾ ❝ ᴛʜᴇ ғɪʀsᴛ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ ❞

The Stormtroopers came a few hours after Jana's interrogation with the man named Kylo Ren. They took her, a sweating, panting, nervous mess, frogmarched her down several grey passages, until they finally arrived at what she heard one of her captors call the detention wing.

They unceremoniously escorted her in, then left, the only words spoken before they did so being, "He'll be in soon." Then the door slid shut, and Jana was once again left alone.

She raised her arms in a clueless gesture, turning in a circle as she inspected the cell. It couldn't have been more bland if it had tried. Black walls, embossed with a diamond crisscross pattern, black floors, shiny and smooth, and a flat black bunk in the corner that was fastened to the wall. The lighting was embedded in the ceiling, and was a dim red, which washed the sterile room in a crimson glow.

Jana didn't know what else to do but to take a seat on the bunk and wait for whoever the Stormtrooper told her to expect to arrive.

And that was when the full magnitude of everything hit her.

Jana covered her mouth with her hand, shrinking back on the bed.
Kidnapped. She had been kidnapped! She was in the possession of the galaxy's biggest enemy. And the man who questioned her about BB-8...Kylo Ren. She had heard of him before, the name sounded familiar. For some reason, images of massacred villages, bloody and mutilated bodies, and the sounds of screams filled her head. Oh yes, now that she thought about it, she realized that she had heard of him. He was the terrifying shadow of the First Order that fell across its victims before they were killed. And she had been inches away from him only a few hours earlier.

She would probably never see Finn again. Or little BB-8. Or Han. Or Rey.
Her sister. Her twin. The only reason she had to want to be alive was gone forever.

Best case scenario, Jana thought, she would not be killed for a while. Ren still thought that she knew where BB-8 was, so she wasn't going to be considered worthless until they had exhausted every ounce of knowledge she possessed. Then they would kill her.

It was too much. Too much for a nineteen-year-old girl to comprehend in such a paltry amount of time. Jana hadn't cried since she was five, but now she felt her eyes water.

"No..." She told herself, using her thumb to erase the tears beginning to form under her lids. If there was one thing she was not going to do it was cry. Sure, she had been kidnapped - no, abducted. Yes, that sounded better - but that was no excuse. She had always felt that wounds only got deeper when you allowed tears to fill them. And she wasn't going to let a fresh wound form because she was weak. She wasn't weak.

With this resolve now tattooed on her mind, she sat up straight, brushed away the glistening drops below her eyes, and pulled herself back together.

Just in time too. Because at that moment, the door to the cell opened, and Kylo Ren stood in the doorway.
Jana instantly shot off the bed, sidestepping away from it and defensively clenching her fists. "Oh. You again," she remarked curtly, a newfound hatred for this man forming in her gut. Completely unaffected by her retort, Ren strode in, replying nonchalantly, "Yes, me. Sorry if you're disappointed."

"Not necessarily. Just -"

"Afraid?"

"I was going to say disgusted."

"Ouch," he said, laughing a moment after. "But you are afraid. Aren't you?"
He moved closer, making Jana feel far too small and unprotected. She didn't want to admit it, but she did fear this man. This monster in his haunting black robes, and the inhuman metal mask that concealed whatever features were behind it. His presence was like darkness, spreading over her and making her cold.

"Why are you here?" She responded quietly at last, ignoring his question. Ren nodded. He took another step closer. "I'm here to congratulate you."
Jana frowned. He continued.

"The Supreme Leader has decided that you are to trained in the ways of the Force."

He was too close now, and Jana stood against the wall in an attempt to create more space. Her mind spun. The Force? Trained in the ways of the Force?!

"But," she stuttered, forgetting for the moment who she was talking to. "But the - the Force is for Jedi, I'm...I'm not a Jedi!"

"Yes you are," Ren countered. "Well, not really. Not yet. But after I train you and teach you how to use the Force, then you will be a Jedi. Then you will be a Sith."

Those words were like a slap across the face. Jana was being offered the opportunity to control the greatest power in this universe or any other. But what was the catch? She would have to learn the evil side. The Dark Side. She would have to become a Sith.

Something changed inside Jana at that moment. Something snapped. Unlimited power. To have masses cower at her name. The thought made her grimace.

Mustering all her strength, she shoved her hands against Ren's chest and pushed as hard as she could. "I will never be like you!" She grunted as she did so.

She barely achieved moving the man three inches, but she had made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him or his Sith ways.

There was an empty void of silence. Ren seemed to be considering her words. But then he leaned right into her face, so far that a tilt of her chin, and Jana's nose would've touched his mask. Then he spoke. He sounded angry, but calm. And it scared Jana to death.

"Trust me," he hissed. "You will give into it. You will become my Apprentice. And you will be a Sith."
He drew back quickly, walking straight to the door. Jana gasped, not realizing that she had been holding her breath till then. Before he left, he said. "You will be assigned living quarters tomorrow morning. Welcome to the First Order."

Jana scowled at his back, wishing she had a blaster to send a couple of rounds into him with.

In the doorway he paused, turning to the side.

"Did you know that there's an unusual amount of darkness in you?" He said softly. Then the door closed for the last time that night.

After several minutes of not moving, Jana sank to the floor, and eventually fell into a sleep seeping with nightmares.