Wayward [Kylo Ren]

XII

XII

Axel Quinn's body dropped in the snow, Ben stood before him. Kaida could no longer feel her brother's presence through the Force, and sheer, unadulterated panic settled in her. No, no Axel. No, Axel. Get up! Get up!

But Axel didn't stir.

When the stone-cold realization hit Kaida Quinn in the chest, it was as if a dragon, who had long been hibernating, suddenly woke from its slumber.

She screamed shrilly, from pain, from anger, from all of it. She felt a power explode from her, and she found herself buckled to her knees, saber shut off, and fists hitting snow.

Kaida slowly raised her head, looking up to see Ben Solo before her. No, not Ben Solo. He's right. Ben died a long time ago. He wears the face of Ben Solo. He's someone else. He's something else.

~*~

It had been the troopers that had started this escape. Kaida and Axel had evaded them. Now, they were back in their place that they shared, prepared to leave and move on. It was too good to last. We have to move. Damn troopers.

Hastily, the Quinn twins gathered what belongings—what few—they took for their fugitive run.

As Kaida collected the last of hers, she stopped. She felt a dark presence growing faster, coming for them. Abandoning her possessions, Kaida ignited her purple lightsaber, a stark light contrast to the dark she was hiding in. Stormtroopers she could cut down easy, but this presence...

It was unmistakably the presence of a Sith. Perhaps the one who led the slaughtering of Jedi. Kaida suppressed the anger and the memories. Though the Jedi Order was extinct, she still wanted to try and keep her morals intact. She would not let her anger make her irrational and reckless. Her goal was to run and stay alive.

Kaida ran at the first noise of blaster fire. She joined Axel in deflecting red bolts. Some hit walls, some ricocheted back to the troopers and hit their white armor. The more Kaida dared to take steps further, slowly, the more troopers fell. The armored bodies were piling up in the entrance/exit route.

Axel, his green saber aglow and getting its own workout, backed as his sister advanced. Neither dared to charge for the troopers, not when there were so many. It wouldn't be as difficult if it were a few.

Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in Kaida's skull. She shook it off, but it grew, persistently. She cried out, nearly getting a blaster bolt to the forehead as she dropped to her knees. She kept one hand on her head while the other still held her saber. Through the chaos, she could hear her brother grunting from pain. This is the Sith's doing.

With a yell, Kaida watched as all remaining troopers were flung against the nearest wall, very roughly. She cast a side-glance to Axel, who was down on one knee, clutching the side of his head too. No troopers came back from consciousness.

But that was the least of the twins' worries, for the dark presence Kaida had felt was practically on top of them.

The figure cloaked in black stepped through, red, unstable saber humming at his side. His identity was concealed with a mask. Someone wants to be a Darth Vader wannabe, Kaida thought snidely.

She noticed the figure held an outstretched, black-gloved hand. It confirmed her suspicion.

"There's nowhere to run," said the figure, whose voice was distorted by the mask over his face.