Akiva

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"Invisible threads are the strongest ties."
~Friedrich Nietzsche


Rey


"Hey wait up!"

I stumbled after Kylo and tried to avoid tripping over tree roots as I shoved persistent vines out of my way. The vegetation in the jungle was dense and the trees so close together it was as if they were going to merge with one another. The air around me was thick with humidity. We'd landed the ship some way away and Kylo was leading the way to an abandoned outpost which he claimed to remember visiting before. He paused when I called out and looked back over his shoulder.

"You don't seem to be able to keep up, haven't you ever been in a jungle before?" he asked, sounding slightly irritated.

"Well Jakku isn't exactly the most thriving planet." I replied, finally catching up to him. I stopped to catch my breath and then looked up to meet his disapproving eye. He didn't have even a single bead of sweat on his face.

Kylo sighed and turned away. "We're almost there anyway."

"That's...great." I replied, still not moving from my crouched position.

"Do you need me to carry you?"

I looked up in surprise. Did he actually just offer to carry me? For a moment I considered his offer, imagining his strong arms cradling me, or me wrapping my legs around his perfectly sculpted torso. Then I shook my head and dismissed the thoughts. Kylo was here to teach me, not babysit me, and I needed him to know that I was strong enough to deal with it, plus I couldn't get sidetracked...

"No I'm fine." I said, standing up and beginning to walk in his direction.

Kylo looked at me but didn't say anything and continued to lead the way to the outpost. A couple of minutes passed I began to feel uncomfortable with the silence.

"So why did you pick Akiva. Is it like your happy place or something?" I asked him jokingly.

"What?" he asked, looking at me. He seemed puzzled and it dawned on me that he might not know exactly what I meant.

"I mean like, where you to feel your best, where you can go to get away from the world."

"Oh." He seemed lost in thought for a moment. "No I don't think so."

"So why did you choose it then?" I was still curious.

He stopped and pointed "Because of that."

Right ahead of us I saw a fairly large metal structure in the distance, parts it buried in the soil. It had vines crawling all over it and a few of the windows were smashed. The outpost.

Kylo lead the way inside and after poking around in a rusty panel managed to get the lights on and the doors working. It wasn't as bad on the inside as it was on the outside so I went in search of bedrooms. I found some further down the hallway which looked like they were inhabited, a very long time ago, by someone who didn't want to be found.

"Leave your things here. They'll be safe till we get back."

"Back from where?"

"There's a large clearing just west of here, we'll use it for our first lesson."

"Right now??" He couldn't be serious.

"Yes. Right now." Kylo replied, and started making his way back towards the entrance.

I raised my hand in protest and then dropped it, remembering that I had taken very long nap on the ship. Had Kylo even slept at all? He didn't seem a bit tired. I'd have to learn some of his secrets.

***

"You have good form, yet terrible precision . You need to focus on exactly where you want to strike instead of just swinging your lightsaber blindly."

Kylo had had me practicing how to use my saber on some of the jungle trees for a while and I had to say, he was not easy-going. So far that was the only compliment I'd managed to get out of him. I swung my lightsaber at the nearest tree in frustration and sliced it deftly into two. Then I turned to glare at him.

"As much as I'm enjoying putting on this little performance for you, I'd really like to learn actual combat techniques." I said to him.

"All in good time my young padawan." He grinned and his whole face lit up. I don't think I'd ever seen him smile before. It was...breathtaking...wait did he just call me his padawan?

"I hope you don't expect me to call you master." I said, turning around and pointing my lightasber directly at him.

Kylo began to advance towards me, slowly. His lightsaber remained tucked into his belt but he had an intimidating look in his eyes. My confidence wavered a little bit but I held my ground. Then he came right up to me, standing inches away from the burning blue tip of my saber and looked deep into my eyes. I held my breath.

"No. You can call me Kylo."

I exhaled and relaxed a little bit, my mistake. Before I knew what was happening Kylo had whipped out his lightsaber and had it's red blade next to mine. So this was how he wanted to train me, well it was better than slicing trees.

I attacked first and we fought for a while, although I could tell he was taking it easy on me. This had seemed so much easier on Starkiller Base, maybe because I hated him so much. But don't I hate him still? I swung my saber at him again, narrowly missing the top of his head. He turned around and aimed at my legs, but I jumped nimbly over the blade. As soon as my feet hit the ground he struck again and I stumbled backwards, but managed to gain my footing.

"You don't seem much good at this anymore." He said in a mocking tone between strokes.

I was concentrating too hard on keeping all of my limbs to think of a clever response. Then I got an idea and, using all of my remaining energy, gave him a force push. He didn't seem to be expecting it and tripped over a root, but not before shifting my feet so that I fell to the side and rolled through the leaves. Somehow, we had both missed the slight drop in the land and found ourselves on the ground, covered with dirt and leaves.

I sprung up immediately and looked at Kylo who was still a mess on the ground. He looked at me and then started laughing, deep carefree chuckles that shook his entire body.

"I waiting for you to do that." he said, slowly getting to his feet and looking at me with an amused expression on his face.

I looked at him and rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile. He seemed really happy, which was unusual for him. Then I walked over and gently pulled a twig out of his hair. He stared at me intently the whole time but didn't say a word.

"I think training is over for today. It's getting late." He said quickly, adjusting his cape.

I nodded. The sun was already setting.

We began to head back to the outpost, traipsing through the thick vegetation. I didn't have to read his mind to tell that he was in deep thought.

"Sullust." He said suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"It's where I go to clear my head, to get away from the world." Then he kept on walking.

Sullust, I said to myself, and smiled.

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