Chapter 19: Underground

They're dead.

Buried in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert.

The odometer flipped over every kilometer they crossed.

85...86...

Rey's mind wandered as the sand just went on for stretches and stretches. It was endless; no beginning and without an end. It didn't help that they had passed the graveyard of star destroyers long ago, and no other pertinent landmarks emerged from the desert as they sped by. The sun was beating down ferociously on her back which ached from clinging to the speeder without a single break. There was no fuel to spare for the engine to be needlessly restarted.

89...90...

The warmth was beginning to make her drowsy, and her thoughts lazily drifted to the previous night. Sore muscles all along her spine and the back of her neck still throbbed with a dull ache as they recovered from healing Kylo. Using so much of the Force in one moment had sacrificed all of her energy, and in her lethargy, nearly knocked her over. When he hauled her limp body to rest against him, she vaguely remembered a certain giddiness overcome her with a cheek pressed to the fabric on his chest. She recalled how his voice was a low rumble and almost alluring at this proximity; it wasn't helping the situation that one arm had looped beneath her to grasp at the curve of her thigh. In the haze of her sleepiness, the view of him from there wasn't anything to complain about, and the fullness of his lips were certainly something to behold.

92...93...

A chugging sound emitted from the speeder just ahead and to the right of her own; a black trail of smoke appeared to trickle out of the thruster as its rider tried to accelerate out of it.

Looks like we are out of fuel, Rey thought.

The speeder lost propulsion in that moment and died in the sand instantly. Hux managed to hold on for the rocky landing in the sand, his hood thrown back in the wind.

Rey's own speeder continued on up the steep slope they had only just begun to climb, and lurched suddenly as the engine hiccuped. Rey was now far enough ahead of Hux that she could not hear what he was suddenly yelling about.

She kept climbing the dune, pushing how much farther she could get on what she had left.

94...

Just as she crested the peak, an enormous slice of metal appeared, blinding as the sun reflected off it's broad side and obscuring her vision. She raised her hand to shield her eyes, realizing at the same moment that the dagger end of the debris would surely impale her at this speed. Her right arm turned the lurching speeder at the last moment, driving the end of it into the sand and throwing her off. The movement happened at such a velocity that she'd barely felt like she was flying through the air before she solidly hit the sand, rolling over and over on her side until she'd slowed to a rest on her back.

Bits of sand stuck to all the areas of sweat on her face that the goggles didn't cover, and as she gingerly rose from the ground, proceeded to rip them off her head and toss them next to her. A long trail was left where she had rolled and disturbed the smooth terrain, and she could see the piece of metal sticking out the sand, like some booby trap awaiting anyone who might venture up the hill at a similar speed she did.

The top of Hux's head slowly emerged as he climbed the way she had just come, and he made his way down through the trail Rey had made with her tumbling body.

"I tried to warn you" he told her as he passed the downed speeder, those pale yellow eyes looking her over for any injuries. "Are you all right?"

Rey nodded, looking down at herself as well, hastily brushing sand off the areas where it clung in creases.

"We've arrived" Hux said with relief and pointed past her.

She turned slowly to look in the direction of his hand, shading her eyes whilst turning in to the glare of the sun that was beginning to lower in the sky.

A shining, silver dome was protruding a few feet above the sand, damage apparent on all edges of it. She'd been so preoccupied with the debris in the near collision that she'd missed what lay past it. Approaching it cautiously, Rey squatted down at the edge, noticing how the sand had worn away its finish. Reaching out with a bare hand, she was surprised by the coldness of the steel in the heat of the sun on Jakku; it was completely unaffected by the heat. The peculiar alloy was not typical for travelling spacecraft, and instead seemed to lean toward heavy structural integrity only.

This is the exterior of a ship...?

A few paces to her right, she noticed fine lines in the dome that appeared to be small hatches to the inside. Running her fingers along each one, it was easy to see where the sand filled the creases and signalled that much remained untouched, save for one. One round hatch was clear of the grit, and even left just slightly ajar.

Hux stood by silently, expressionless as she made her discovery.

"Something may have gotten in" she said out loud.

Or...something got out? A worried voice in her mind added.

Her fingers squeezed under the edge of it, and when it wouldn't budge she thrust her whole arm under to leverage opening it further. Using two hands now, it creaked audibly as she pushed it all the way open.

At first glance it was nearly black at the entrance, but after her eyes began to adjust, a dim string of lights could be seen that followed deep down and curved out of sight. The longer she stared the more she could sense the pull emanating from the shaft; it piqued her curiousity, but frightened her deeply. It prompted her memory of the chasm on Ahch-To where she'd descended down into the water beneath the island and encountered the mirror.

I should have felt trapped or panicked.

"It's not fair for you to have gone on for this long without knowing" Hux said, almost with understanding, "and the only way to complete your training is to face your past."

But I didn't.

Rey resisted looking up to him from her knees, holding her breath as anxiety swirled in her gut.

"What will I find down there?" she asked.

"The truth you've been waiting for, my dear."

Rey stood from the ground and dropped one leg into the hatch, and perched forward on the edge as she dangled the second leg in after it.

Taking one last look at Hux, who nodded in affirmation, she slid out of sight, into the darkness.

*

It was an endless tumble as Rey slid through the tubular shaft the hatch had been connected to. Several times she attempted to grasp at the sides with clawed fingers in an effort to slow her down, but there was nothing tangible to cling to on her journey down.

There came a point where her momentum finally slowed, and eventually her body weight couldn't be carried by gravity any longer, slowing to a halt in the dim tunnel.

Pulling her heels back underneath her, she hunched over in the low shaft while bracing the walls. She didn't know whether she should continue on or try to find to find an egress for this shaft.

The air unexpectedly started to distort as a familiar hollow sound rushed to her ears.

"Rey" a low basal tone uttered in the shaft.

She turned around completely to see Kylo Ren sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking at her intensely as his eyes hid a degree of emotion that simmered there.

"I wouldn't stand up if I was you" she gestured to herself "it'd be a pretty tight fit."

"I'm on my way to your location, where is Hux?" he asked with a serious expression.

"Do you think you're coming to rescue me?" her question relayed confusion. "I came willingly."

"Hux is dangerous, Rey. He's-"

"Encouraging? Helpful?" She cut him off abruptly. "I can tell you for certain that he doesn't say I'm nothing." For some reason, his pursuit of warning her only aggravated her in this moment.

Ren looked perturbed at the past being brought up again. "I already told you...that isn't how I meant it. Now, you need to listen to me...he will get inside your head and tell you what you want to hear in order to get what he wants."

Rey didn't answer him as he spoke.

He swallowed uncomfortably. "I know he's taking you where your parents ship went down."

She stilled as she studied him. "How...How do you know my parents landed here? Hux didn't say this was their ship."

He hesitated, working his jaw back and forth the way he did in conversations with her.

"Not landed...they crashed. Not long after take off when they couldn't break the atmosphere."

"Kylo Ren...how in the universe would you know that?" she stepped forward aggressively.

"The vision." he sidestepped, not ready to discuss the truth. "When we touched hands, I saw your parents..." he trailed off; bringing up the most intimate moment they'd shared elicited painful memories of rejection.

Rey blinked several times as she processed his words.

"I've left Nima Outpost. I found the body of Unkar Plutt who was killed by a lightsaber." Ren spoke slowly and carefully. "Did Hux make you do it?"

Rey turned away shamefully, and Ren was surprised to see her capable of that emotion. Her goodness had been tainted, and she knew it.

"Rey?" he plied softly.

She turned to him, and for the first time in the history of their bond, Ren felt the connection ignite with a rage similar to that of the beast which haunted him.

"You are the LAST person to question me on the things that I've done. You've killed hundreds, maybe even thousands of innocent people, including your own father. Unkar was abusing the girl who is now my replacement in his staff of scavengers, the very same way he abused me, and that was justified." The venom in her voice was scathing as she sufficiently enunciated the list of his crimes.

Ren's lips shut tightly till his mouth formed a thin line.

That's how it all starts, Rey. With injustice.

She shook her head as his voice echoed in her mind, fighting the truth that he'd always delivered her. There was a particular satisfaction when she'd reminded him of his past as he tried to prevent her from finding hers.

A headache began to throb in Rey's temple as she realized her mind was trying to close the connection in an attempt to stop the conversation.

A frown crossed Kylo's face as he faded before her eyes. Rey breathed a sigh of relief in his absence, but her emotions continued to confuse her in this place. Wasn't she just reminiscing of last night before she arrived?

Taking three steps forward as she continued to rub the headache at her temples, a low tremor was apparent now that she hadn't noticed before from the surface level. Rey turned to her right and leaned full weight into her palm, hoping to get a better idea of the vibration strength.

As she leaned, the whole panel swung open to her surprise, and Rey shrieked as she tumbled out into the abyss. Reflexes screamed to grab the door that opened, and she twisted herself around as she fell; both hands made contact with the panel door and she held on for dear life as her legs completed the swing by smashing into the wall outside the door.

Rey grunted with effort as she looked around wildly for direction before spying a bridge above her within climbing distance. Engaging her abdominal muscles, her boots reached a depression in the wall and her hands found pipes to transfer her weight to once she released the panel door.

She focused on securing her grip for every time a hand or foot moved up the wall; her shriek had echoed after nearly falling, giving her the impression she was in a very big space. Rey's fingers ached to the bone as she climbed toward the bridge, and it was several minutes before she reached it.

Hoisting herself up onto the utility bridge, she collapsed from the exhaustion of her ascent as the sweat trickled down the sides of her face. Her arms and back felt like they were on fire.

She stared up into the darkness of the place she had entered; a gigantic shaft that disappeared into black at both ends, too long to see the end or the beginning; she shuddered to think of how long she would have fallen before reaching the bottom.

Faintly blue, a thin stream of energy was coursing through the shaft, most likely coming from the core of the vessel. The bridge was connected to a door on her left where she had climbed from the wall, but the other side of the bridge ended in only a platform that overlooked the energy stream.

Rising to her feet, Rey stood in awe of the black expanse that surrounded the bridge; a wave of disorientating nausea swept over her while wrapping her mind around the fact that whatever ship she was in, it expanded for several kilometres underground.

Something tells me this isn't a ship, Rey thought as she put her hand on the only door she could go through, anxious to know what she might find on the other side.