CHAPTER 6
FASCINATION

TWO YEARS LATER

ALARMS blared in her ears as she finished tying the rope around the unknown man's hands and legs. She knew she needed to make this quick; she only had so much time until the enemy found her – she was on the Resistance base after all.

Raena pulled up her dark hood, making sure whatever hidden cameras that were located in the room caught no sight of her. She cocked her blaster into place as she spun back around to the one of the most important captains on the base – in fact, he happened to be the highest ranking next to General Organa, according to Hux. She knew that she did have a small army of storm troopers covering her back outside and within the base – hell, both the general and commander would never trust her to go alone with all her training over the past two years. But time never stretched in situations like this, and the troopers couldn't hold anyone off for too long.

The man in front of her fought against the ropes binding him, causing a wicked laugh to fall out of Raena's lips. Just the sound surprised her at how much she had changed over the past couple of years; the change happened to terrify her, but she wouldn't dare to let that be known.

"Struggle all you want, Captain, but here lies the end." She brought up her blaster – an upgrade with several other controls, provided by Hux – and pointed it straight at the middle of his chest. "Any last words?"

Just kill him already.

Her commander's voice rang in her ears and she groaned in disgust. No matter how well she could resist his hold, she could never escape the power he had to communicate through her mind with his own. It was thoroughly exhausting.

Get out of my head, she sent back until silence engulfed her mind once again.

"You'll never get away with this. None of you will!" The captain tried leaning in as close as he could to the malicious First Order assassin. "The darkness will forever be doomed to fall to the light."

She nodded, "Very touching."

The captain tried to scoot closer to her to do something – anything – but his struggle only left him weaker. "Who even are you anyways?"

"Who am I? Why, I'm a Nhagy," she bragged, directing her blaster in the chosen area again as her hood fell just enough for the captain to catch her eyes. "I win."

She pulled back on the trigger for several shots until she felt the splatter of blood stain her clothes. Her eyes strained to keep themselves open as her stomach roared. She felt nothing – absolutely nothing – and if just the vicious laugh she once let out scared her enough, she couldn't begin to explain her terror at her now emotionless state.

Another mission completed.

•••

"Everyone head back to the ship and be waiting for me."

Raena's com interference was heard throughout the entire base ship, the crew inside the commanding area erupting into cheers at the win for the First Order. Commander Ren stood to the side, watching the giddiness around the room and even grinning himself under the helmet, which he had to admit was beginning to feel a bit itchy. The news wasn't a surprise, in fact they had all been expecting it. After enduring First Order training for nine months, Raena worked up to her position of Officer fairly quickly, due to her skills and handiwork with a blaster. No, Commander Ren was not surprised in the slightest at her victory.

General Hux took his place beside him, his smile seeming contagious. "Another successful mission at the hands of our assassin."

"She never fails to disappoint." Ren complimented in the sternest voice he could muster, not a hint of emotion in his tone. "She might even be better than your trusted cadets."

"Just because she trains with them, doesn't make her any better," Hux defended as a frown made it's way back on his face. "Speaking of training, you seem to pop in every once in a while to view. Any explanation?"

The commander kept his head trained on anything but Hux's eyes, even though he knew he couldn't see his own through the mask. "I care about the skills of our elites, that is all. I need to know for myself if they're in tip-top shape."

Hux nodded. "Yes, I see. But I can't help the thought that you're fascinated."

"What is that supposed to mean, General?"

"Your interest is apparent even through the helmet." The general replied quickly, pointing a finger to his commander. "Don't get too attached."

•••

He was angry. He had never been so angry.

Who was Hux to say that he would get "attached?" Did the general even know his place anymore? Kylo suggested that he didn't, comparing his words to the way Hux had been lashing out recently to any of his demands. Sometimes – only sometimes – he swore he wanted to rip off the lean general's skin from his skull.

He wouldn't get attached. Ben Solo would have gotten attached to every being he saw, but he was no longer Ben Solo. He was Kylo Ren, commander of the First Order.

Why was he overthinking the words of only a general?

Nevertheless, Kylo found himself in his abandoned and broken-down control room, igniting his lightsaber and lighting the vintage control system ablaze. His arm whipped amongst the buttons, spark flying outwards and burning the front of his helmet as he released his pent-up anger. But what made him angrier was the fact that he didn't know if General Hux's words were true or not. Ever since the destruction of the main Starkiller base, he had too tough on himself.

Two years getting to know the First Order's best assassin sure did a number on the commander.

She had been passing by the abandoned hallways after she had changed in an extra pair of clothes and headed to the training room, where the rest of the cadets would be waiting. Raena walked at an unnaturally fast pace – a new characteristic she acquired just days after she started her training – and turned a bend, practically sprinting to the end of the hall where the gym was. But she soon found herself slowing as she neared one of the usually empty control rooms, groans of exhaustion and anger almost sending smoke from the room.

She peered inside, getting a quick glimpse of Commander Ren throwing his helmet on the floor and yelling at himself. He ran a hand through his matted hair. Sweat ran down his forehead as he fumed, and before she could realize that she was staring, his eyes found hers.

"Sorry, I –" She looked away, his dark eyes almost burning holes through her hazel ones. "Sorry."

She ran to the training room she was just inches from as she recoiled at moment that had just happened. She had never felt so uncomfortable in her life, and she hesitantly glanced over her shoulder to see him standing outside of the room, staring at her with tired eyes, before she walked into the gym.

It wasn't the silence of the situation that had bothered her – no, it wasn't that at all – they had grown quite a liking to each other when they spoke at meetings and the like, even though his manipulation of communicating through her private thoughts left a sour taste in her mouth. She had grown used to speaking to the modulated voice and darkness of the helmet, but that was the thing – she had always talked to the helmet.

That was the first time Raena had seen him without his helmet since the day she was welcomed into the First Order.

•••

General Hux said she had looked distracted that day. Of course, she didn't mention the small second that she managed to see the commander without his helmet and yelling at himself, but she did give the excuse that she had been lacking sleep lately. From the look of the bags under her eyes, he had no choice but to believe her.

She had been weak that day, one of Hux's cadets commented, before she used all the strength she had left in her to body slam him to the ground. The cadet flipped over on his back so that he was laying on it, giving Raena the full advantage to sit on his stomach and hold his arms back from fighting her. She wrapped her cold, slim fingers around his throat as she pulled out the prototype blaster they used during training, and carefully placed it on the cadet's chest.

"I win, yet again." She muttered, leaning close to his ear and standing up. "It takes a weak person to know another."

The male cadet huffed out a breath angrily while their attention moved to Hux nearing them, clapping his gloved hands. "Well done, Nhagy." He commended, gripping her shoulder forcefully. "Soon enough, you'll be accompanying Captain Phasma and Commander Ren on missions."

Raena sent a smirk the cadet's way. "I don't see why not."

"Commander Ren has been fairly ... interested in your progress, has he not?"

She quirked a brow upwards. "Shouldn't he be in the know of his elites' progress?"

"Funny," Hux nodded as he turned back to direct another order to one of the cadets, "that's what he said as well."

Raena rubbed at her head as the general's words sunk in. What was he suggesting? She looked up to the ceiling for balance, but soon spotted a familiar dark figure looming above in the balcony of the training room.

Commander Ren usually watched the cadets train, but even with the helmet on, the shiver crawling up her spine told her that he had been staring right at her the entire time.

•••

A/N: I can't thank you all enough for all the support this story is getting!

Book II takes place within the Force Awakens and the Last Jedi. I changed the timeline a bit and put a two year time gap between the movies to create more development for the characters in this. So this is all completely from my mind! I wrote Book II before the Last Jedi came out, so some things are a bit out of the canon, but I also thought the time gap was necessary for character development.

A lot of this book will focus on the quick emotions of the characters and how they will/have changed. My whole reasoning for writing this story, to be quite frank, was the immediate acceptance of love and feelings that Kylo Ren shows in other things I've read. I really wanted to divulge in his emotional distress and his call to change. Plus, his character is just really interesting so yeah.

Happy reading!