Rey was in pain... everything hurt and she couldn't tell if it was physical, mental or both. She struggled to breath in the dark room she woke in maybe an hour ago. It was a small cell. She hadn't gotten further in her investigation then that. She was still lying on her side and had been since her eyes opened because she didn't care to do anymore then that. She hadn't the will power to move.

There was an incapacitating swelling in her chest that was so intense it constricted her breathing. Her cheeks were puffy, her eyes swollen and sore from crying. She felt so lost. So alone again. Luke hadn't been related by blood, but he didn't have to be. There were two people in her life that were with her longer then her blood family. One was of the light and now gone, the other... well... Ben Solo was a heartbreaking anomaly. He was a Dark sider, there was no doubt or denying of that fact, but who was he? Who was he really? Was he the same man from the island or was that a fleeting version of him? Was he really just the man known as Kylo Ren, the man who killed his family at just the strike of his crimson blade?

Luke had instigated the fight, even attacked him with his back turned... but surly Kylo Ren was confident enough to dismiss the old Jedi as a threat, Luke couldn't have really intended his nephew harm...

The man she was getting to know was not always understandable. He was capable of both destruction and brutality but also compassion or maybe more accurately pity. At the very least he was capable of order. He had a code, she'd figured that out, not what that code entailed but she was sure he had one.

He had Light in him, but he had much more Darkness then that Light and yet... he was never truly what she thought him to be. She should hate him for taking some one else from her, should feel disgust towards him. She should still think him a monster incapable of change. But she couldn't entirely, not after all she'd learned about his past... correction, their past. She was just beginning to trust him, really trust him and then...

Rey lifted her hands. Metal dragged along metal as she pulled them closer to her chest. The shackles that had been placed around her wrists clinked along the floor making the heart in her chest ache even more. She stared down at the glistening metal of her restraints in disgust. The little light that she was left to sulk under wasn't much, but it was enough to allow the reflection to playfully dance along the shiny metal of the cuffs that shackled her hands together. She wondered how much of what she thought she knew about Kylo Ren had been an act.

How much was real, how much was a lie to get her here?

Well it didn't matter because she was here now and he had her in manacles and locked up. She supposed now that he had her in his complete control there was no need to pretend to care anymore. After that she figured he must have decided to end the charade by throwing her in the dark cell so he could finally forget about her.

What kind of threat was a desert scavenger now? She had no teacher. No place in the world and with Luke gone there was really no reason for anyone to come looking for her.

Rey knew it was a ridiculous way of thinking. After everything they'd gone through in the last few days, everything he'd done to keep her safe. She knew if he wanted Luke dead from the beginning he would have killed him much sooner then he had. Something had changed and Kylo Ren had adapted. Still, as she rotated her hands to watch the dim lights over head bounce off of the shackles around her wrists she couldn't help but contemplate how much of anything she really knew. After all, she was so disconnected from him that she could barely even hear the hum at the back of her skull. Some how he'd become a master at keeping himself closed off from her. For months he'd tried breaking through her walls and now that she was willingly letting him in...

She shook her head, unable to face the hurt that came from knowing that not only was Luke gone, but quite possibly, so was Kylo Ren. He had become such a deeply ingrained part of her that it embarrassed her as much as it pained her to admit she didn't know which loss hurt worse.

There was a sudden clicking sound over head and her eyes followed where her ears told her the noise originated from. She stared up at a solid metal door finding a bright white crease of light growing to a sharp line in the darkness. Her eyes squinted as the light grew, spreading open in front of her as the door split from the wall to reveal three stormtroopers and a man in a sharp black uniform. Rey raised her hands over her face to protect her sensitive eyes from the invading lights that stormed her senses.

"On your feet sand rat." One of the troopers ordered accompanied by the motion of his blaster pointed in her direction.

Rey sighed and lowered her heavy arms once more. She was physically famished and mentally exhausted. She couldn't pin point how long it had been since she'd eaten and her stomach was past the point of cramping. She had cried herself emotionally raw and her head ached with the invasion of sound, motion, or light and now she was forced to endure all three at once. She laid her cheek back down along the coolness of the metal cell she laid in.

The choice to ignore the stormtrooper turned out to be a bad one. His armored foot came up to crack her in the stomach and upon impact her already tired body shrank in on itself. Her eyes squeezed shut but other then a guttural cough, she made no other sound. She'd been in worse condition before and the physical pain didn't come close to the emotional distress she was already in.

"I said get up desert trash!" The trooper yelled cruelly and his foot came up again but a halting hand from the man in the black uniform stopped the trooper before he struck her again.

"Actu-hally..." She worked through a stuttering cough. "...Y-hoo said... d-hesert r-at..." She corrected backhandedly. She knew it was stupid but in honesty, the physical pain bothered her less then the hurt constricting inside of her chest.

The trooper reacted instantly. He stepped forward, his shoulders leaning aggressively in her direction as he advanced. The only thing stoping him was the squeezing hand on his arm. Rey glanced up expectantly and when a retaliating kick didn't come she shifted her focus onto the man she assumed was in charge. The man in the black uniform was smirking down at her. His blue eyes like lasers fixating on her tired hazel orbs. There was something about him that made her skin crawl. Something about the way he looked at her. She couldn't pin down what it was but every alarm in her head was going off at full volume.

He bent down, his hand outstretched in her direction and his black glove upturned. Rey glanced at his hand for a second before locking her eyes back on his face. He wore soft leather gloves. They were smooth and almost as shiny as his boots. He clearly wasn't a man who got his hands dirty. She was betting he did very little heavy lifting of his own if any at all. He was a man who told others what to do and from the looks of those soft gloves she was sure he had no qualms about ordering them to do something he absolutely wouldn't do himself. She didn't know why she compared the two, but she felt like Ren wasn't the type of man to order anyone to do anything he wouldn't do himself.

No, this man was Someone high up in the ranks who utilized his position of power for his own benefit. He probably never had a single callous in his life. You didn't wear soft leather gloves for anything other then show. They offered no protection, or very little. Rey shimmied away from him but her eyes never left his face.

He wasn't bad looking but she wouldn't call him attractive either. Maybe if his creep factor wasn't so high... with his intense blue eyes like cool blue pools against his snow white face and his sturdy but fair jaw line accentuating his masculine complexion; he had sharp features that could probably be charming in the right light but here, in the dimly lit cell those strong features didn't help what he was trying to pass off as kindness, sympathy or maybe just pity and Rey saw right through the facade behind the extended hand. She just knew what kind of man he was the second she caught him smirking down at her; every instinct in her told her the extended hand and softened look he was giving her now was a front and she trusted those instincts.

He shrugged and his hand pulled away. His small peach lips pulled into a thin line and his brows, orange like the rest of his well groomed hair, pulled at the center of his face in a scowl. His eyes sharpened and he glared at her, clearly she had offended him by turning his hand down. Rey was betting he wasn't use to rejection either and she showed her lack of concern by turning her head away. It had to be a shot to his ego.

"Suit yourself." He said with a snarky tone and in an accent similar to her own. He waved the troopers forward and there was a startling amount of clinking armor rustling above her as the troopers quickly moved to grab at her arms.

They pulled her to her feet as she struggled against them. A balled fist landed an inch from where the foot had just assaulted her moments ago and she lurched forward upon impact. The man in charge held his hand up again and the troopers stilled while all four waited for her response. He gave Rey a moment to catch her breath probably anticipating that she'd now comply with whatever it was that he wanted. Rey, already knowing she'd decline his hand again, took the moment to regain her composure. She coughed a few times before her lungs loosened enough for her to breath again.

When he felt she took long enough the redhead snapped his gloves fingers to gather her attention and then practically shoved his palm in her face while she was still leaning forward in pain. Her head flew up in anger and she wasn't to surprised to find him smiling at her. A smile she was sure he thought was charming but she knew it would be better suited to something slimy and maybe with three or four heads.

"Care to reconsider my offer?" He asked her arrogantly and with a clearly insinuated threat. If she refused the troopers would probably start pummeling her.

Her head tilted to the side and she gave him an equally false smile to match his own. Glaring up at the man defiantly she asked cockily, "Do you like being disappointed?" She straitened herself to accentuate her bravado.

In the blink of an eye his face changed. A sneer of disgust flashed across his features and his hand turned to whip across her cheek in a hard backhand. Her face snapped to one side and her neck cracked under the force of the hit. Her mouth flew open in a silent cry of pain but she gave him no further satisfaction.

"On the contrary, I prefer a challenge." He announced, his face smoothing over as he once again donned his gentlemanly guise. "Hmm..." His head tilted and he moved back a full step. His eyes took her in from top to bottom then back up again. "The scavenger that defeated Kylo Ren..." He spoke languidly, as though he'd been thinking out loud and had all of the time in the world to do so. His eyes moved over her in short sweeps, he was clearly considering her. Maybe her stature, her threat level or intelligence, who knows for what or why. It's not like she was capable of much in her current state anyway.

She turned her head back to face him. The right side of her complexion was red from along her cheek bone to the corner of her mouth where the end of his hand reached. Her eyes were hard with her continued defiance. "What of it?" She spit bluntly, not caring to play into his games.

"Honestly, I thought you'd be bigger." He said with disappointment and while pretending to adjust the glove on the hand that he'd just struck her with.

She shrugged and he went on as though they were having a casual conversation. "You left him for dead." He stated almost contentedly.

His eyes continued to roam everywhere but over her own. She felt it when they scanned the area he had hit, his vision moving over her face like ice over her stinging cheek. The cold of his frosty eyes brought anything but comfort to the already swelling area. His hand suddenly reached out to grab at the center of the cuffs that bound her wrists. He jerked her forward as he spoke.

"I'll bet you're wishing you'd finished him off when you had the chance, hmm?" His voiced leveled out, leaving her to guess if it was a serious question or meant to mock her current situation as he brought her attention to the fact that she was caught and bound because of Kylo Ren, like she didn't already know.

Her eyes narrowed. She was working on getting a read on him, attempting to navigate where he was going with his statements. "You offering me another crack at it?"

She made a show of eyeing the emblem on the sleeve of his shoulder and the silver rings around the wrist of his uniform as though trying to decipher his rank, which she was, but only because she knew he'd proudly tell her if he caught on to her blunt curiosity. She could tell his arrogance would serve her better then trying to pin point what rank the man was herself. Rey didn't really know enough about the First Order to guess at the ranks of it's soldiers. All in all she knew very little past the basics, you know, evil galactic regime and all.

"General." He said with an upward tilt of his head proving her instincts correct.

Maker, he was so arrogant.

"General, Hux." He added like a proud peacock, puffing his chest out with pride.

Rey had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"And what you just asked would be treason Jakku rodent." He pulled on the base of the glove as though he'd only just tugged it on. "Do you think I got to General by being treasonous?" He asked rhetorically.

"Either that or no one else wanted the position." She shrugged nonchalantly clearly mocking the air of superiority about him.

His face darkened again and this time she was prepared for the crack that came across her cheek. Unfortunately it didn't make it hurt any less. Her head followed the path of the strike taking a little edge off of the backhand but he gave her no time to recover before his fingers grabbed her by the chin and his hand yanked her face to meet his.

His eyes narrowed at her, his face reddening significantly. "You will show me the proper respect I'm due or I'll beat it out of you!" He hissed in her face like a feral cat. He took a deep breath through his nose and let it out shakily through his mouth, a clear sign of a short temper. "Seeing how you've been surrounded by desert creatures and more recently stuck in the company of a masked monster, I'll try to cut you some slack, but here, in my presence, you'll learn to show adequate respect. You'll act like a lady or you'll be treated like an animal." His eyes roamed over her again and his thumb and fingers gripped tighter, biting painfully into her jaw. "Do I make myself clear, little mouse?" He reiterated every word with proper pronunciation. He was trying to belittle her intelligence, or maybe he was over compensating for something and this was always how he spoke to those around him. She wouldn't put it past a personality like his.

Rey's nostrils flared. Anger hot and thick crept up into her already nauseous stomach as she glared at this Hux character with the combined anger she had intended to reserve for Kylo Ren and the situation he'd placed her in, as well as what this man provoked in her. "You will send your troops away so we may speak in private." She attempted to mind trick him in a way that she hoped didn't alert the stormtroopers to what she was doing.

He smirked evilly and Rey had to fight a shiver from his response. It was not at all the compliance that she'd been expecting. "Is this your attempt at seducing me or are you straight out going to make me a proposition?" He asked cooly, a disgusting smile slithering across his pale face as he leaned into her.

Rey's eyes widened in shock and she unsuccessfully attempted to pull away from him in disgust.

He scoffed at her and his hand aggressively released her face leaving her to rework her jaw to ease the discomfort from his near bruising grip. "Please, a filthy little thing like you..." He returned her disgusted look. "I'd send you through a disinfectant chamber at least twice before I'd even consider it." He eyed the torn and tattered, not to mention sweat, dirt and blood stained clothes she wore before she realized how disgusting she must have actually looked. On the plus side at least she didn't have to worry about fighting off any unwanted attention or advances because looking like this, she was sure there would be none.

Hux grabbed at her cuffs again and he forced her closer by the cross linking chain that conjoined the rings around her wrists. The more he pulled and tugged the more the metal was cutting into her skin leaving thin lines of raw skin from being yanked around by them.

"See these, little desert mouse?" Using the chain again he pulled her wrists up between their faces. "Unlike you, these are special." His index finger tapped along the cool metal as he spoke softly. "This is a very rare kind of metal. A metal that keeps a filthy little desert mouse from using the Force when she's not supposed to." He finished with venom in his voice. "Did you think we forgot about how you escaped us last time?" He pulled on the chain jerking her hand down at his side and her feet stumbled forward to stop herself from tumbling down to her knees.

She stared at the cuffs in a mixture of disbelief and horror. There was no way there was truth to what he was declaring. Could such a thing really exist? How?

"I can see you're impressed." His hand raised to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear and she dismissively turned her head away from his touch in obvious defiance.

She bared her teeth and his hand moved lower, his fingers suddenly wrapping around the delicate flesh of her throat. She froze, unable to pull back any further while the two stormtroopers on either side of her held her in place.

"I wanted to have a collar made..." His thumb stroked her neck and she curled her lip at him in aggression. "...But I simply didn't have time to prepare for your arrival. Honestly, I always assumed when Ren found you you'd finally finish him off." He gave her neck a light squeeze, lifting slightly to draw a gasp out from her throat. Pleased with the sound of her discomfort he smiled. "Well, now that your here for good, perhaps I shall put in a special request, hmm?" He coo'd as though what he was talking about would serve as some kind of reward for her.

Rey couldn't tell if he was taunting her or serious and that bothered her more then his hand around her neck. The threat of death didn't bother her as much as giving up any kind of control to this man. His fingers opened and he pulled his hand away in one snap of a motion, like if he left it there any longer he'd get burned. His hand stopped between them and again his palm turned upward. Rey swallowed hard, her heart beating wildly in her chest and her brain overloaded in a fear she always thought would come from being forced under Kylo Ren's dominant hand. She'd feared him dominating their bond since the moment she saw the possibility through a Force vision she had. Since she'd left Jakku she hadn't worried about becoming subjugated by anyone other then Ren and while that thought truly disturbed her, at least she didnt think he'd use his power over her inappropriately. Not if everything he'd insinuated in the past had been all a ploy anyway. He had her here now, he didn't need to pretend to want her anymore.

Once she discovered her own power she thought the Force would allow her immunity from slavery. Immunity from any one that wasn't more powerful then herself... or bound to her. Now there was this unknown to worry about too. She recognized the specific brand of fear that was coursing through her veins. It wasn't for her life, but her freedom in the worst way. She had no doubt that given a reason this man would treat her like he threatened to, like an animal. He'd clearly enjoy the prospect to. Rey was not about to let that happen. Her own hand reached out and she hesitantly and begrudgingly, placed it in his. He smiled triumphantly and her stomach churned.

"Well then, now that we've established a functioning relationship, let's get you to the main event." He painfully squeezed her hand in his. When she held back the show of discomfort that he'd been hoping to draw from her, he pulled her hand low, dragging her frame forward to meet the hight he required her to be at to keep from pulling her arm out of it's socket. She proceeded on behind him, her body jerked to a slight bend as he practically pulled her out through the door and down the long corridor that housed several doors on either side of the hall just like the one she'd been held behind.

She was nearly dragged along, half bent and awkwardly side stepping to keep up since her hands were nearly bound together and her left arm was still being squeezed by a storm trooper who was walking to close to her left hip for her to take normalsteps. It was a good thing the General was so tall or she'd really have been dragged. She was certain he was keeping his hand so low to make a show of her submission as they made there way down one hallway after the next. Rey tried to keep track of the distance they traveled. She tried to map out as much of the place in her head as she could but really, it all looked the same.

Most of the hallways, corridors and doors looked similar. This place was one big darkly colored durasteel maze. Not to mention there were storm troopers everywhere. Then there were other officers and workers. Even a child or two had gone running from one area to the next. Of course when any of them saw the General they slowed or stopped completely to salute and show their respect. For a moment or two Rey had convinced herself that he was leading her in circles to throw her sense of direction off but then they entered a turbo lift and she saw the floor selection screen.

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head at the number of floors they could choose from. If this was a hoax to convince her that she had no chance of escape then the masterminds behind it had done a successful job. This place made the Starkiller look like a shack. The General took notice of the glum change in her once defiant face and he tugged her hand forward suddenly bringing her so close to him that her right hip rested against his leg as the lift moved smoothly to a new level of the base.

"Something the matter my dear?" He asked whimsically, knowing full well the effect that this trip had on her moral.

Silently, Rey shook her head. The lift stopped and they stepped off, rounded two more corners, down two more well guarded halls and finally their feet stopped moving in front of a very large door that seemed almost out of place on the otherwise modern interior of the gigantic base. Sensing her discomfort the General smiled knowingly at her. Her foot subconsciously slid back. She could feel it. Something so vile and thick it could only be described as evil waited for her just beyond this door and she really just wanted to bolt in the other direction.

"Well, best not to keep the Supreme Leader waiting." He declared calmly.

Rey shook her head. Her fight or flight kicked in and suddenly she was thrashing against the hands that held her arms. She dropped her weight and leaned back, forcing the troopers to hold her up while she used them to fight off the General. She lifted her feet up planted them against his stomach and shoved him away. He collided into the door behind him.

"Why you little-" He started. His hand came up, his fist balled ready to attack with a more forceful strike when the door suddenly began to release.

They all froze, unsure of what to do next as the door moved with a loud hiss of hydraulics and it slid open.

"We will continue this later mouse!" He quietly threatened before he stood up tall, smoothing over his uniform and running his hand over his hair to slick it back in place.

He motioned for the stormtroopers to lead her forward and they did so without hesitation.

          *Hey guys n' gals. So I know this chapter took me longer to put out then usual and I do apologize but unfortunately there was a passing in my family that set my passion to write back a bit. I'm going to be continuing of course I just haven't really been in the correct head space to write anything I like. I'm finally going to be putting this part out and hopefully it gets me back in the swing of things. Anyway I truly hope it was worth the wait and I hope to hear back from you guys!*

      ~Please don't forget to vote and comment comment comment, I love it!~

    -DarkGuarian-