Light in the Darkness

Human Beneath the Mask

-Rey's POV-

I wake up having forgotten everything. Until the familiar first order emblems adorning random areas around the room remind me that I'm stuck on a first order ship with a menacing enemy.

Wait.

I notice that I'm lying in a bed. Not where I had fallen asleep. I freeze, and my heart starts to pick up pace when I realize the only way I could've gotten here. Did I sleep in the same bed as----? I can't even bear the thought, it's too much.

I slowly sit up and notice a figure on the other side of the room, on the floor. My eyebrows raise, shocked.

He... went out of his way to give me a bed, and in turn slept on the floor...

It sinks in. Kylo Ren, the evil monster who killed his own father. Carried me to a bed for what reason? Why would someone like him do something so... selfless? Had I misjudged him? I quickly shake off the feeling. There's no way. He killed his father. His own father.
Flashes of the sadness and pain that I saw in his mind come back to me, and I try to push them off. Is he truly evil? Or is he maybe troubled, and manipulated?

Is he truly evil, or do I just want him to be?

-Kylo's POV-

I wake up from a nightmare, and I try to hold my composure for fear that Rey is still in the room. Not much to my surprise that when I turn around she is gone. I sit up and lean over myself. What am I doing helping this girl? I've betrayed leader Snoke, the only person to ever truly understand me. I've betrayed the order that I worked so hard to build. All for a girl who would like nothing more than to see a saber through my heart. I feel an overwhelming sense of regret wash over me. If I turn back and turn Rey in maybe I could go back to how I was? But now everything feels so different, and I don't want to hurt the girl. No matter how much she may want to hurt me.

I acted without reason or rationale. Now what do I do? I'm stuck on a ship with a girl who hates me, and I've abandoned all I've ever had.

I stand up and make my way to the kitchen for some food. I decide on a prepackaged trooper meal, so I don't have to prepare anything. I notice the girl has been shuffling through the pantries. I notice an orange and a banana missing. I make my way to the cockpit, but before I enter I see Rey sitting in the copilot seat. Her hair is mostly down with one bun tied behind her head. She's removed her grey vest and arm warmers, and is only in her white tank top. I'm stunned for a moment. She looks... clean. I admire her for a moment more and I want to say something to her. I feel my stomach drop but manage to say,

"Your hair,"

She whips around suddenly, somehow unaware of my presence that whole time.

She stares at me for a moment and I feel myself squinting with curiosity at what she's thinking when she looks at me. The me without the mask. Does she still see a monster?

"What about it?" She finally says.

I take a long pause, it's too long, the air is thick and awkward around us, "it looks," I clear my throat, "it looks nice." I break eye contact with her, but she continues to look at me. What the hell am I saying?! What was I thinking? What is she thinking? I want to just probe her mind and understand what her thoughts are all the time. Usually people are so easy for me to read but not her.

"Thank you." She says kind of quietly finally looking away, and starts to spin back around. I glance back and her and for a moment I catch an expression on her face. Her cheeks are slightly pinker and she appears to be holding back a smile.

I take a step closer to her and slowly and uncomfortably sit in the pilot seat next to her. After a long while if awkward silence she speaks again,

"You moved me to your bed last night," she points out, "why did you do that?"

For second I'm unsure myself. Until I look over and catch the gaze of her hazel eyes.

"I wanted you to be comfortable." I confess.

She looks shocked, "why?"

"I don't know, I just did? Is that a problem?" I'm defensive.

"I just," she's taken back, "I didn't expect you to do something like that." She admits.

I chuckle, "of course you didn't."

She takes a pause, calculating what she'll say next, "What does that mean?"

"It means that you still think I'm your enemy, and that my intentions are evil."

I notice her look of confusion,
"And, shouldn't I think that?"

"Should you?" I look at her very seriously now, "you still don't trust me." I say plainly.

"You know nothing about me yet you label me as evil. Have you ever stopped to think that it's al based off perspective?" I propose.

"That maybe to you my actions would be evil, but to me yours would be?"

She's looking at me shocked that I would even propose such an insane idea. I smirk, knowing I've stumped her.

"Haven't I shown you that there is a human beneath the mask and not a monster?" I stand up and exit the cockpit, leaving her with her thoughts.