CHAPTER 22
RESURRECTION

KYLO hunched his back as he sat in the coldness of his room.

No light shined in on his chambers, the darkness surrounding him quite literally. He could admit that he hadn't been himself lately, despite the overwhelming power forming within him. He had never felt more alive, but also so numb, and Kylo wasn't sure if that was a good or bad.

The vision of her infected his mind like a disease on a daily basis, as if her spirit could intoxicate him even more after death. It was like some kind of magical, witchy bullshit that Ben had been told in stories as a kid that Kylo wished he could forget. He looked down at his hands, the image of her blood coating his fingers causing him to immediately look away.

He remembered the way Snoke had smiled at him, that he was glad that Kylo had finally fulfilled his destiny to his inspiration, Darth Vader. At the end of the day, Kylo had spoken with General Hux of what he'd done, almost surprised at his disappointed expression. Although, the commander had told all the crew that she had left in a pod without permission, and they had no way of finding her location within the galaxy, for she had ripped out the ship's tracker. He made them believe that she was lost forever – a gone girl.

Little did he know that one of the loneliest cadets, by the name of Gerardo, knew of what happened on that last mission and he would take that information to the grave. He was the only member on the ship that didn't give in to the commander's lie one bit and grew to have a terrible disliking to him. Knowing the truth wrecked Gerardo from the inside out, because he felt from deep within his soul that their own commander had killed the First Order assassin.

Kylo had suggested to Hux that the only way to preserve her body without the crew knowing of his lie was to burn it, but the general immediately shot down that idea. He urged the commander to reconsider dropping her body on her home of Takodana. Though Kylo thought that to be foolish, Hux convinced him this was a good way. She was left on the earthy planet to rot beneath a tree's roots the day after her death.

A knock sounded at his door, startling the commander. Using the Force from his fingertips, Kylo slid the door open with a wave of his right hand.

"Commander Ren," an unknown member of the crew called, "General Hux wishes to speak with you."

Kylo sighed. "Tell him I'll be with him in a moment."

The crew member stood there, watching his superior continue to sit in the darkness of his chambers. Him and his fellow workers had talked about this amongst each other, suggesting that while she was alive, the commander and the assassin were involved in their own love affair, and that could be the reason for his current depressed state. But in public, Commander Ren had never been more of a leader.

"Sir," he spoke again, "it's ... it's been a month. I don't believe Officer Nhagy is coming back."

Suddenly, Kylo's head lashed in the direction of the crew member, extending his hand out as the Force brought forth the unknown man. He choked beneath the commander's hard grasp, trying his best to breathe but without success.

"How dare you speak to me that way," he seethed through clenched teeth. His grip got harder, and the commander soon found himself throwing the other man against the wall, killing him instantly. "You don't deserve to be part of the First Order!"

Kylo stood from his bed, his heavy breathing scaring even himself. He wiped the spit that had slid down his chin. Propping his helmet to the right degree, Kylo walked out of his room, his rapid heartbeat guiding him where he needed to go.

You did it to be a good leader, he thought. Remember that.

•••

On the lively planet of Takodana, the body of a famous bounty hunter and First Order assassin laid against a tree that seemed to stretch to the sun.

She had not been seen by any hitchhikers, or maybe everyone was just too blind to notice her dead body lying there, a splotch of her blood staining the bark beside her. It had been a month since she had gone missing, and her corpse seemed to barely rot as it tangled with the blooming weeds of the planet.

But what the outside world could not see was what was going on within the dead body. They could not notice the cells reconnecting each other and tissue binding itself back together. The blood from her wound being sopped back into her system could not be realized by her surroundings, or the sudden thump of her supposedly lifeless heart.

Then it did it again, and it continued for a third time: thump, thump, thump it went.

The corpse's chapped lip quivered.

Her skin that had been completely torn before began to close itself as another flower bloomed around her wrist. The glaze around her closed eyes melted away. The bruises – the goddamn bruises from her alleged lover – healed themselves across every area of her membrane.

A breath of air was released from her body. It was followed by another, and another, and another.

And that was when Raena Nhagy opened her eyes.

•••

When she had woken up, the last Nhagy flexed her limbs just the slightest bit, hearing the bone crack and snap. In a usual situation, it would've hurt, but she now found her whole body to be cracking back into place and she didn't wince one bit.

Just the scent of the land around told her she was on Takodana, and although she had zero clue why she was in this specific location, she began trudging in a direction to find Maz's castle. After a mere couple of hours, she stood beneath the familiar line of flags and opened the large doors, her bones snapping into place as she did so. Various scabs and hints of dried blood littered her body, but with one look in her direction, Maz already knew the stranger that had suddenly graced her premises and her eyes started welling up with tears.

After a brief greeting, Raena got down to business and told Maz everything – from her capture, to her job, and lastly, to how she thought she was supposedly murdered. Maz believed it all, especially her death, informing the assassin that she had heard about her doom from a couple of smugglers passing by. What she had heard, though, was a lie. Commander Ren had everyone believing that Raena had ran off in an old ship and was lost in space. But she knew the ultimate truth: Kylo Ren, the man who she thought loved her, killed Raena Nhagy for power.

The real question still remained: how was she alive? She was sure it had something to do with the vile General Hux had given her before meeting with Snoke, but just what was in it?

Raena hadn't found time to clean herself up, because before she knew it, she was helping two smugglers store their bags on their small ship and wiping the dirt off her brow. They had promised to drop her off at the Resistance headquarters on D'Qar since they were headed within the Outer Rim anyways, and she hoped they would fulfill, for she had a big plan brewing in her mind that she wasn't sure the Resistance party would go with. She hoped her numerous amounts of persuasion would help.

Upon arriving, Raena dragged her limp leg across the green planet to where the headquarters sat. She threw her arms up in surrender when the guards spotted her, revealing that she carried no weapons at the moment and she was, obviously, too injured to fight back. It wasn't every day that you died and came back to life.

As usual, the guards secured her wrists behind her back and took her to General Organa, who found herself stunned at the sight of the battered assassin. She looked like the definition of death, and if only she knew. Leia escorted the guards out and unlocked Raena's wrists, who started her questions brief: "Did you think I was dead?"

Leia answered truthfully: yes, she had been informed of the former First Order assassin's disappearance and presumed she was actually dead at the hands of her son. She knew that he did it for Supreme Leader Snoke. Raena explained everything that had happened during the meeting – how she had thought she had finally reached into Kylo Ren and found Ben Solo, how she had been betrayed, and the deadly pain that still lingered within her chest in the spot where he had stabbed her.

After describing the liquid in the vile she had taken, Leia knew instantly what triggered the assassin's resurrection: the famous reanimation serum concocted by Doctor Cornelius Evazan, and that when injected, the serum gifted the victim with constant life. She had no clue how General Hux had gotten his hands on something that powerful, but the fact that he had used it on Raena led Leia to believe that he hoped for her to return to the First Order when she awoke from death.

"And because of all of this, I have a proposition for you," Raena concluded, her fingers laced together. "I would like to join the Resistance."

Leia hadn't believed her – in fact, the general had laughed in her face. When she realized the blonde was serious, she replied, "As much as I would like to, you're going to have to convince more than just me of your loyalty. Nobody in this base trusts you, what with you siding with the First Order for so long and killing one of our best captains. You really must convince everyone here, even me."

And so she did. She had given a speech to the whole faculty within the Resistance headquarters, urging them of her loyalty to the cause. She reasoned with them that she had nothing left: she had been betrayed by the First Order and left for dead, only to have come back to life from reanimation serum given to her. She realized where her true life lied, which had all been clouded before from the darkness of Commander Kylo Ren's hold on her. Raena pled how much of a powerful asset she was to the Resistance if they agreed, with not only assessing the skills of being a Nhagy, but for the information she held from the First Order as well. If anything, they needed her, and her pledging her loyalty to the cause should've been enough convincing.

Luck had been on her side: the whole faculty had agreed and trusted her loyalty, but they were still on her toes at all times. Though it pained Leia to know that her son would never return to the Light, the presence of Raena on their side gave her the hope that even in death, Ben Solo would come back. Since then, Raena worked with the Resistance on many missions that revolved around the First Order. She had even befriended many on the base, especially Poe Dameron, who had never been happier with her siding with them finally. She visited the familiar First Order base many times to infiltrate the systems, for she knew it better than any of them.

Raena knew that if she ever came in contact with Kylo Ren again, he would kill her - yet again, but she would always come back. It was her life goal to kill him herself. Immortality had not only gifted her with pigheaded-ness, but the growing itch of revenge. She figured one day, she would finally get him, and the galaxy would be restored. The Resistance wasn't as bad as the First Order made it out to be.

She remembered her speech every mission as if it were yesterday, reminding her of her dead-end plan:

"I had succumbed myself to the darkness of the First Order to save my own ass, but caring for their commander was definitely not my plan at all. In the end, it only led to betrayal, for he had killed me to regain the Dark side as he felt himself slipping back to the Light. But something was on my side, and I stand before you now with the gift of immortality. I am the last of the Nhagy family, and I know the skills to survive with also plenty of information on the First Order. You all need me."

She recounted the way she had locked eyes with General Organa, who gave her a curt nod to finish.

"Commander Ren betrayed me, so I am betraying him. I will not stop until I kill him with my own bare hands. I swear to you all: I, Raena Nhagy, will kill Commander Kylo Ren, if it is the last thing I do."

END OF BOOK II