This was it! This was the first comic convention to reveal information about the first follow-up to Star Wars Episode VII. Rin could practically hear everyone's unspoken questions and desires as they waited in line for the panel.

'What happened to Kylo Ren?'

'Is Rey really Luke's daughter?'

'Please make Poe gay for Finn!'

'Who is Snoke?'

Rin loved the excitement in the air. It was like a drug, pumping everyone up until they were high enough to do impossible things. But the moment she entered the dark hall, the air turned somber. Instead of frenzied screams in anticipation of favorite actors, only the sound of nervous shuffling echoed off the walls. Every person Rin made eye contact with stared back with dread.

"Excuse me!" She tapped a Mandelorian cosplayer on the shoulder only to have them whip around and stick their gun to her chest.

"What do you want?" The person asked violently.

"Whoa!" Rin jumped back in surprise. "I just wanted to know what was going on. Everyone seems so... jumpy. And, I don't know... afraid? Paranoid?" She pushed the gun away for emphasis. "I mean, it's like everyone knows someone's about to be killed, but they don't know who."

"Can't you feel it? The darkness?"

"A little, but I suppose I'm a bit too used to it to be intimidated." The Mandelorian stared blankly at her, mouth open like they were about to respond. But before they could, the room went completely dark. A few screams let out, and they were far from happy. Uneasy, Rin used her phone screen as a flashlight.

"Is everyone okay? Who screamed?" She walked through the crowd until she found the culprit. A man, dressed in Finn's clothes, laid face down on the concrete floor. Rin's heart wrenched, but she didn't understand why. There was no sign of wound or broken limb, he was just motionless. Rin got on her knees and started to examine him.

"Does anyone know who he-" A sudden burning sensation above her head stopped her question. She looked up with hesitation to see the red blade of a lightsaber hovering over her. Silent, she backed up to get a better look at it's wielder.

Clothed in robes of black, the person stood tall over the crowd's quivering frames. Although his face was covered, the mask still made him recognizable. The metal bands around the eye holes were the same as the ones on the mask of Kylo Ren. But this couldn't be him standing in front of Rin, not really. Kylo Ren was, and always will be, a fictional character from a movie franchise. Yet, the way his saber flickered and sparked was all too real.

"On your knees." He commanded. Everyone around Rin immediately obeyed. She stayed standing, still frozen with confusion and fear.

'This isn't real.' She assured herself. 'I'm dreaming an elaborate fanfiction.' Kylo stepped closer to her, then turned away when a group of Stormtroopers marched in and barricaded the door. Rin held in a laugh. How was he so blind? Part of her wanted to yell 'I'm right here you blind dumbo!' Yet, she didn't want to press her luck. Instead she focused her attention on the dead person. Wait, he was still breathing. The shallow movements were barely detectable without light, but as Rin put her hand on his back, it was obvious.

"What's your name?" She whispered.

"Alex." The man coughed out an answer.

"That's a great name, I'm Rin. Don't move, I'm going for check for wounds." She moved her hands along his body, until she came to a hole near his shoulder. The singed skin around the area was still smoking. Rin gagged as she realised that the wound went all the way through.

"Alright Alex, I'm going to put pressure on the wound." She unraveled her scarf and pressed it down hard. Alex grunted in pain, but nothing else. In the silence, Rin tried to see what was going on. Judging from the movement of Kylo's lightsaber, he was slowly moving through the crowd. He briefly stopped at each person, then moved on.

"Rin..." Alex started to say something, but stopped.

"What is it?" She knelt closer. "Are you okay?"

"You need to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving." Alex didn't respond; when Rin checked for a pulse, it was gone. She stared in despair at her now blood-stained scarf in horror as old nightmares came back.

Walls were grotesquely painted with her sister's bloody handprints. Shards of glass laced the floor like a minefield. And in the midst of the chaos, her little sister's limp body laying against the dresser.

Panic assaulted Rin physically and mentally. Her body began to shake, her heart pounding. Voices screamed at her from within, bombing her mind with lies about her part in the tragedy.

'You are a murderer, a monster. You failed to save your sister and tore your family apart. Why haven't you died yet?'

"Stop it!" She whimpered aloud. She was so caught up in her attack that she didn't notice the red glow approaching her.

'I can feel your fear, but I cannot find you. Show yourself.' Rin snapped out of her panic attack at the sound of the new voice.

'How-'

'You left your mind vulnerable. I saw your pain.' Rin jumped as she saw the beam of red light in front of her.

"There you are." Kylo reached his hand out to Rin's face. A twisted panic struck her as he took control of her muscles and kept them rigid. "Your pain betrays you." Rin stood helpless as he sifted through her memories. Each one was scooped out and replaced with dark torment.

"Get out of my head." She pleaded. "There's nothing of importance."

"I'll decide that." Kylo snapped.

"You were wrong, I wasn't in pain. I was angry, towards my father. He abused my family and shot my sister." Rin struggled to get the words out as Kylo delved deeper.

"Our fathers would've gotten along then." He responded coolly. "But I didn't come all this way to hear your pitiful back-story." With a flick of his hand, Rin was released from the torturous grip and slumped to the floor.

"Our fathers couldn't have been more polar opposites." She snarled. "Mine was a sniveling, drunken bastard while your's was a honorable hero and a person of legends. He saved the galaxy twice over, and above all he loved and cared about you even after you stabbed him in cold blood."

"Don't talk to me about that!" Kylo swung his lightsaber over Rin's head with an angry yell. She covered her head with her arms in fear and in hopes of protecting herself somewhat. The tantrum faded into heavy breathing, and Kylo calmly put away his saber.

"You will pay for remark that later." He muttered.

"But I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that what you did is tearing your heart apart." Rin replied darkly. She didn't have any time to consider what she just said before Kylo once again had her in a force grip.

"You feel you're on the light side because of your words. But I have seen your heart and it holds the true power of the dark side within. I'll help you unleash it-"

"No you won't!" Rin screamed. Her body and mind strained against Kylo's hold, until one final effort thrust it out in a wave.

"What have you done?!" Kylo yelled, stumbling back as if he had been punched in gut. Rin didn't respond. Instead she fell to her knees as her mind was flooded with confusion and chaos. She suddenly carried both her feelings as well as Kylo's. All of the rage, the despair, the drive to do right by his grandfather, and all of the regret of his actions screamed at her from across the room.

"How... how do you carry all of these emotions and stay sane?" She whispered fearfully.

"I can't." His reply shook her hard. She began trembling and felt her mind snapping.

"Make it stop. Make it stop please!" She sobbed. Without any word, he lifted a hand. Rin felt a split second surge of dark power, then emptiness as everything turned black.

****A/N****
This is a preview of my SWTFA fanfic, which is currently untitled. I know there's not a lot of information, as this is a little introduction/prologue. The main character's name is Rin Tumlinson. She's half Japanese, half American. (Her picture is in the media section) She suffers from PTSD due to emotional and physical abuse by her father, so she is more in tune with her Japanese side (hence her fashion sense.) And yes she lives in our universe and it is one where Star Wars exists as a franchise. I've got some planning to do in terms of story, so it may be a bit before I start publishing the chapters. I will publish this part in a separate book and post updates on how the planning is going. Once I'm ready to start publishing the story, I'll delete them. I'm excited about this, because everything I've seen in terms of fanfiction is romance centered. A lot of it's great! But not my genre style. So here's something different! Don't forget to like and comment!

-LJ