Master of Mine

Chapter 1: The Voice

"Couldn't we go catch a few fish instead?"

Rey cringed, watching Luke pour another spoonful of brown stew into a bowl, handing it to her. Steam rose from the murky liquid. A wafting stench of herbs and weeds wrinkled her freckled nose. It usually tasted much better than it smelled. Usually.

"You mean get blown into the water and drown in this storm? No." Luke sat on his favorite stool and placed his warm bowl on their small stone table. Wax candles burned inside rickety lanterns around the stone hut and set a cozy, warm glow for their dinner. Besides training in the morning, this is the time of day Rey enjoyed most. She and Luke rarely ever spoke during their meals. Luke just quietly sipped his stew while he watched Rey stuff her mouth with fish. Yet somehow, it never bothered Rey. They were both just thankful for the company.

Though, on this particular night, something felt... wrong. Rey could feel it in the energy around them. Around the hut. Around the island.

The heavens outside were as gray as the vest she wore over her shirt and the linen bracers on her arms. Every once in a while, a loud rumbling noise clapped through the clouds and lit them up with a bolt of light. Master Luke had called it thunder and lightning. A normal occurrence before clouds drenched the island in water. Rain, apparently. Having never seen anything other than sandstorms on Jakku, she'd been frightened to her wits the first night on Ach-To. So much, Master Luke had no choice but to use the Force and calm her enough to sleep through all the noise. Had he not been there, she would have thought the galaxy was collapsing.

No. This uneasy feeling she felt now wasn't due to the weather. It was.... a whisper. A voice.

A faint noise that would vanish the instant she turned her head. She couldn't decipher the words it would whisper, only the voice. A man's deep, gentle voice. He brushed her ear with his breath, sending a hot, pleasant ripple down her spine, making her legs weak.

She had heard it numerous times here on Ach-To. Even once in the middle of the night at The Resistance base in the Illenium System. One night after she and Finn had fought for their lives against the fearsome darksider, Kylo Ren. Nephew of her new Jedi Master.

She could not understand no matter how many times she turned it in her head. How could he - the dark and loathsome thing that he was - be the son of a charming, brave smuggler like Han Solo? How could he be the prince born to a graceful, fearless general as Princess Leia Organa? How could Luke Skywalker - the wisest, most powerful Jedi alive - possibly be his uncle? How could they, such good people, all be related to such a monster? It did not make sense.

Perhaps... Kylo Ren had not always been such a beast? Maybe... Maybe he had been a good person too.

Absurd. She rolled her eyes, dismissing the thought. No good person would ever betray, murder, or.... abandon their family. Ever.

She gulped down the pain of the wound she'd carried for so many years and drank more of her stew, trying not to gag.

"Rey...."

She choked on the bread she was chewing. Her eyes peeled wide at the familiar voice whispering softly in her ear.

"Scavenger," it said. "I hear you, scavenger. I hear you."

Her heart pounded in her chest. She knew that voice all too well. It was the same despicable voice that had been hissing in her ear while almost every inch of her mind was searched and invaded, revealing things she had never uttered to anyone. The same voice belonging to the man who offered to be her teacher, to have a place by his side. It was his voice.

"Ren...?" she gasped.

"What?" Master Luke's blue eyes widened behind his wrinkles.

"That voice," said Rey. "Don't you hear it?"

He set his bowl aside, his eyes glued to Rey's. "Voice?"

"A man.... He's talking.... In my head... It's him. It's Ren," she stood up, listening for any sounds of approach outside the hut.

"Ben?" Luke exclaimed and closed his eyes, feeling through the Force.

Ben. Yes, that was his name. The name Han had called him on the bridge at Starkiller Base. His real name.

"I'm coming for what I want," Kylo Ren whispered. "Stay out of my way and I won't be forced to hurt you."

She closed her eyes as well, calming her breathing, reaching out through the Force. It allowed her to look past the hut, through the wet grass fields, past the roaring ocean waves, up into the dark sky where a frightening and familiar black command shuttle was flying into the atmosphere.

Inside, a trail of warmth beckoned her to follow, leading her to a room where a man dressed in black robes hunched over a chrome sink. The same chrome decorated his bone-chilling mask sitting on the table next to him.

"You shouldn't lurk where you're not invited, Scavenger," his tone lightened, his head cocking. "It's rude."

"What do you want from me?" she demanded.

"Nothing from you. I offered you a chance, and you refused. Leave the island now and I won't kill you."

"I suggest the same," she growled. "It's not enough you murdered your father? You're after your uncle as well?"

A wave not too different from the waves crashing against the rocks outside loomed over both of them. It was unbearable, cold. Sadness, loss, and regret. It almost brought tears to Rey's closed eyes. She felt his shoulders slump lower, his head shaking as if to make the feeling go away. Was this sadness coming from him?

"Run while you can, Scavenger," he said. "We're Coming."

He was gone.

Wind howled outside of the hut. Leaves and twigs slapped against the stones, sending an icy shiver of fear crawling down Rey's skin. "Luke - " her voice trembled.

"You have to leave," he slipped his arms into his brown robe. "Now. Take the falcon. Find the rebel base. You'll be safe there. Do whatever you can to sever the connection."

"But -"'

"Tell Leia... Tell her I'm sorry. But it had to be done." He pulled his hood up, masking his own face and called to his lightsaber. It came flying to his hand. He gripped it tight, the white of his knuckles threatening to break through his skin.

"No," Rey reached for him before he could trample out into the rain. "No, I'm not running away. I'm staying with you."

"Rey, this isn't training!" he scowled. "I've taught you much but not enough. It's too dangerous. You're not ready."

"I fought him once before!" she snapped. "I fought him and I defeated him."

"Because the Force willed it so," Luke said. "There's no way of telling if it will favor you again. He won't be alone this time. Are you ready to face an entire army of him?"

Rey held her tongue, remembering how close she'd come to death the last time. But she also remembered Finn, her friend, who had fought for their lives. Alone. Who had been left to die. Alone.

Luke's mournful eyes rested on the chrome and black lightsaber hilt resting on the small stone table. He picked it up, holding it in his hands one last time. His old saber. His father's saber. "Please," he handed it to her, "take good care of it. And go. Now."

Without another word, he headed into the cold, leaving Rey behind. She stared at the saber, her own reflection blinking back at her. Every fiber in her being screamed at her to flee. To take the falcon and not look back. But the energy around her, enveloping those feelings of fear and soothing them, told her differently.

Stay, it almost said, you must stay. You must stay and face him.

She couldn't abandon Luke. Not when he would need her most. She might not be fully trained, but she was strong. That, she knew.

Not bothering to slip on her own robe, she wrapped her hand tight around the lightsaber hilt and ran out into the icy rain. She gasped at the sight of Kylo Ren's monstrous black command shuttle landing on a small mound of earth below.