05 | snap the trap with skywalker bait

"YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET AWAY WITH MUCH, I'M AFRAID. I'M THE ONE WITH THE LEVERAGE HERE."

SNOKE'S STAR DESTROYER-

There was a sinking feeling inside of Kyra's stomach as the moment at hand grew nearer and nearer.

She was weaponless and being forced into a situation that was less than ideal- a confrontation with the leader of the First Order. It was a man (if the stories were true, she wasn't sure if he could even be classified as a man) Kyra had hoped never to encounter, inside of the First Order and outside.

Yet here she was, being escorted by her own cousin (who now knew that they were cousins, which only made the entire situation at hand so much worse than it had been a few moments before), whose grip on her arm was skin tight. There was a glowering look of hatred on Kyra's face as she made a point to try and move from where he held her, barely even getting a glance from the man who towered over her.

His mask showed no emotion in the moment, something that Kyra really wished wasn't happening right now. She wanted a better read of the room, a better read on whatever Kylo Ren was planning with her here. Because she had been certain that death was the only thing on the table after Kyra had obliterated the Star Killer base that was so precious to the First Order, and especially after she had almost died to the man a little over a month earlier.

Yet the lightsaber that was attached to the belt of Ren (which Kyra totally wasn't eyeing, thinking about a way to break herself out of the grasp and use as a threatening point even if she couldn't wield it) hung unused, not a danger to the woman. The blaster that he had taken from her was just casually resting in his other hand, almost begging to be stolen back again. Everything that was happening was against the regular norms and protocols that the First Order would have when dealing with a prisoner.  It was all so strange.

Why would they take the chance of getting her back alive when there was such a better advantage for the First Order if she was dead?

Her thoughts overwhelmed her as the long and black hallway stretched on, the lights on the side of the walls the only indication of any light as Ren continued to move her down the pathway. There had to be some sort of way for her to escape the confrontation that was sure to occur at the end of this hallway, or at least give herself some leverage over the conversation.

Giving herself a metaphorical high ground, so to speak.

"You know, I'm surprised you haven't even tried to escape yet." Ren remarked smugly, his tone obvious as the two continued to walk, his mask inclining slowly to stare down at the annoyed Kyra, whose eyes were staring straightforward, seeing the small hint of red towards the end of the hallway. She knew what that red meant- it meant that they were getting closer, and Ren was trying to antagonize her.

"Well, you do have something over my head to threaten me with." Kyra spoke cooly, not bothering to give Ren the satisfaction of peeving her. Giving a quick glance over to the blaster and the lightsaber that Kylo Ren was carrying, the woman tried to hide a small smile as he made no attempts to hide the two tools that could help give her leverage. "But you haven't seen anything yet." She muttered under her breath, closing her eyes to take in a deep breath before she would enter the room that could seal her fate.

Through the end of the dark and what seemed like a never-ending hallway, Kyra's eyes were bombarded with a color that dripped of crimson blood, the walls of the new room that she was inside screaming of death. It reminded her of the burning ashes of the nightmares that never escaped her, the idea that death would follow her wherever she went.

Giving a quick scan of the room, Kyra saw that there were guards everywhere. They weren't the normal stormtroopers either, instead donned in crimson red outfits that mimicked the walls of the room that they were now in. And in the dead center of the room was a throne- where Kyra was sure that Snoke was sitting upon.

There was no time to waste in order to gain her leverage. Taking her left arm that had been held in Ren's grasp, she promptly elbowed the man in the stomach, turning into him sharply and causing him to keel over, dropping hold of the blaster. Kyra's knee then wrenched into his stomach again, allowing the woman who was much shorter than the sith lord in training to propel herself on top of him, quickly using her legs in a move that she had only used to take down opponents of a larger stature to knock him flat onto the floor.

That was one problem down.

Grabbing the blaster that was flat on the floor, Kyra whirled around and shot the two closest guards that were now on high alert, knocking them dead on the ground before Ren could recover. Finding the man flat on his back, Kyra took the lightsaber off of his belt, blaster now in one hand and the ancient one in another.

She just had to hope that this next part worked.

Pointing the hilt of the lightsaber straight at Ren, Kyra's thumb found the button to activate the saber, the ancient weapon actually turning on to meet her plea. She supposed it was because it was now wielded by someone inside of her bloodline, or maybe the Force and whatever mysterious powers that were out there in the galaxy had just decided to give her a break and allow her the opportunity to escape. The red saber's reflection of light flickered against Kyra's face as she threatened Kylo Ren, a cold laugh echoing inside of the room.

Turning her head to see who the cold laugh was coming to, Kyra came face to face with the Supreme Leader of the First Order- Supreme Leader Snoke. "Such a bold move from someone inside of capture." The man who towered over everything else inside of the "throne room" (if that was what it could be called), a menacing figure that made Kyra's breath hitch. "I would only expect that from someone like you. A Skywalker."

"You know, I expected you to be taller." Kyra didn't have a good comeback other than that, her eyes moving back and forth between the intimidating Snoke and the cousin that she had gotten under her threats on the ground below her. "Really. They made you out to be this terrifying figure and you look, well-"

"Your humor is quite like your father's." Snoke commented, giving a remark that took Kyra aback. Out of all the things that she had expected from the day, she did not expect to hear a comment that made it seem like Snoke knew her father personally. 

Finding her voice after a moment of staring down Snoke, still hearing the hum of the lightsaber inside of her hand, Kyra tried to compose herself as her tone grew cold and nasty. "I guess humor's one of the things that I've picked up from my family since I was able to leave this wretched order. That and the courage to stand up for what's right."

"What's right." Snoke laughed coldly, finding amusement in what the young and naive Skywalker said. "There is no right and wrong in this galaxy. There is only the powerful and the weak. And the fact that you would give up your own freedom for the sake of someone else's?" The humanoid gave a scoff at the concept of someone doing something as incredibly stupid as what Kyra did. "Is weak."

"It's not like I was given much choice." Kyra gritted out through teeth locked tightly together, her expression hardening at the mention of the woman coming back to the First Order. It was a sacrifice that she had made- to say goodbye to everyone that she had loved- and now she was here, face to face with the Supreme Leader with her cousin under her threat with a saber. "And I wouldn't call someone who has your apprentice in a life or death situation weak." Kyra warned, seeing Snoke's expression turn curious as she threatened him.

He hadn't expected such a morally ambiguous person when he had heard Skywalker had a daughter. Snoke had assumed she would be the same as her father, a man willing to see the positive in everyone, the good hidden deep in people even if it was hard to find. He believed that her rejecting the First Order and joining the Resistance meant that there was only light inside of her, that the darkness she had experienced under Ren's command was something that hadn't affected her.

But this was a different daughter of Skywalker than he had made her out to be. The days of serving under the First Order had hardened her soul, and had made her to be someone willing to do the dirty work that was hidden behind the shadows. She was someone that dwelled in the grey of the galaxy, and that seemed to surprise him.

"You could kill him if you wanted." Snoke remarked, his hand reaching out to gesture at his apprentice, seeing the fear begin to grow inside of Kylo Ren. He was afraid that his master would just leave him to die, after all of the years of training and serving under him. The man was naive- all of this was a test for the Skywalker. The Supreme Leader was curious to see what she would do. "There's nothing stopping you."

"Everything is stopping me." Kyra disagreed, thinking to the hologram version of Silas that she had seen hours before, all beat up and bruised inside of the blackmail that was the very reason she was here. "I just needed a little leverage to reassure me that I wasn't here just to be led like a lamb to the slaughter. You're going to let Silas go after all of this. That was the trade."

"The trade was that he would go unharmed." Ren whispered out, finally becoming a part of the conversation, watching his lightsaber flicker in front of him. He was careful not to say the wrong thing and end up with another scar on his face, but stared up at Kyra, finding it somewhat amusing that she didn't understand the full severity of the deal that she had made. "But yes. We'll follow through on our end."

"A lamb to the slaughter?" Snoke questioned, shaking his head as he laughed in disbelief. The young Skywalker really had no idea why she was here, back in the First Order, and not dead where she stood. "My dear, you really have no clue why you're here again, do you?"

There was a pause as Kyra looked back and forth between Kylo Ren and Snoke, not sure why the two of them suddenly got so smug. That answer had been in the back of her mind since she hadn't been blasted to bits when her escape pod had attached to the ship, and had become even more prevalent when she hadn't been killed while threatening Ren.

"It seems like we have the leverage then." Snoke's creepy and cold smile grew as he gestured for his guards to finally come and handle Kyra, the two closest taking the blaster and the saber from her hands, locking her hands behind her back and placing handcuffs on her wrists. She wouldn't be able to sabotage anyone any more, her tactics and games over.

Giving a glare to the two soldiers that were now side by side with her, Kyra tried to get herself out of the cuffs, straining herself as she felt exhaustion creep into every muscle of her body, a chill running down her spine. Warmth drained from her body as she felt the handcuffs lock themselves tighter around her, the technology adapting to her trying to escape. "What the hell- what did you just do?"

"A little gift from your doctor friend Deftrine." Ren spoke again, gathering himself again as he stood, a proud and snide tone inside of his voice as he hid behind his mask like a coward. "Turns out that the frequency isn't the only way to manipulate whatever ability you have that keeps you from the Force."

"No." Kyra stopped, realizing that there wasn't a temporary pause anymore, that everything that was going on around meant that she was going to be even lower than she had been before. There was no more leverage for her to use, no more secrets and loopholes for her to exploit. "No. You-"

"You really thought that we wouldn't be able to find a new technological advancement to outsmart you and your powers? We knew what we were getting into when we wanted you back in our grasp. The First Order isn't as foolish as you make them out to be." Her cousin scoffed, gesturing for the two guards to go away, that he would handle the situation in front of him.

"Now, with you within our grasp, we'll be able to use you as bait for the last Jedi." Snoke's voice seemed to fill up with joy at the prospect of Luke Skywalker coming into their grasp at last, at the very concept of ending the Jedi as they knew them. "Since we couldn't get to the Jedi first, we had to come up with another solution. That solution being you, of course." The humanoid Supreme Leader explained, seeing the confusion upon Kyra's face.

A pause. 

And then laughter from Kyra. 

"Fat chance of that happening." The woman gave a cold stare back at the First Order, shaking her head as she finally realized why she hadn't been killed- why everything was happening the way it was. It wasn't only because she had just been told the plan- but because all of the hidden nuances of the First Order's plan were finally coming to light. "He doesn't even know that I exist."

That seemed to be something that the First Order hadn't considered when coming into all of this, as Kyra looked to her side and could see Kylo Ren falter at the thought that Luke Skywalker didn't know that she existed. If she didn't exist to him, then-

"You really think that he's going to come back for a daughter that he didn't even know about? If he wouldn't even leave for his sister and his best friend that he's known for years, well-" Kyra laughed, shaking her head as she saw anger slowly rise in Snoke's face. "Good luck with that."

"Take her away." Snoke muttered, looking at Ren with a withering glare. Their plan was slowly falling through- and Kyra could see that. Everything that they had expected that would happen with this plan was, evidently, not, and the fact that Kyra had such a mouth on her and had already tried to threaten the First Order definitely didn't help anything. "We will deal with the fallout of everything that has happened when you return, my apprentice."

Turning out of the room, Ren grabbed Kyra's right arm, still reeling from the injuries that she had inflicted upon him minutes before. There was a laugh that escaped Kyra's lips as they found themselves inside of the darkness of the long hallway again. Even when she was losing this battle, there was still something that she could poke at for Ren to become upset about.

"Something going south, cuz?" Kyra mocked him, seeing rage silently begin to seethe off of him, the woman finding pleasure in getting to poke at his insecurities. "Didn't consider the fact that my daddy dearest doesn't have a clue about my existence, huh?"

Ren didn't respond, instead moving his hand to force Kyra against the side of the hallway, restraining her with the Force as she grasped for air. "I wouldn't speak if I were you, Ceydea. Unless you want to find that your vocal cords would be crushed and you will no longer be able to speak." He spat out, releasing her from his gasp, watching her sputter for air.

Aggressively grabbing her arm again from the floor, the rest of the hallway and the walk out into the doors of the rest of the Star Destroyer were silent, Kyra cautious to not piss off Kylo Ren already more than she had. She had already lost one of her ears to him- she wasn't all too keen on thinking about the fact that her voice would be gone as well.

Hallway after hallway passed by as Ren escorted Kyra, his new prisoner, to her prison cell that was most likely going to be reminiscent of where she lived inside of the Star Destroyers and Star Killer bases for nine years. Everything seemed to go on forever, Kyra not bothering on memorizing the details to escape. She figured Snoke and Ren would find her the second that she did- and she didn't want to piss them off any more than she had.

Kyra was walking on thin ice as it was.

Finally, their walking seemed to stop, Kyra being interrupted from her thoughts about what her friends and Poe were doing. She hoped that the Resistance was safe, that they had all received an opportunity to escape. And Poe- god, Poe. She missed him like hell. There was no part of her heart that didn't ache from being gone from him- but she just hoped that he wouldn't be so foolish to go after her.

"We're here." Ren spoke nastily, entering in a keypad code as the door whooshed open, darkness overwhelming in the small prison cell. Shoving her inside of the cell, Kyra stumbled down into the darkness, looking up at her cousin with an annoyed look. She wanted the cuffs off of her, but, evidently, the sith lord in training had no inclination to take them off. "We'll get you when we need you next."

The door slid shut, leaving Kyra in almost darkness as the lights barely flickered on, now recognizing that there was someone inside of the cell. Giving a small groan as she attempted to brush a piece of hair out of her face, Kyra leaned against the wall, closing her eyes and sliding all the way down until her bottom hit the floor.

This was hell.

Hearing a rustle in the other side of the room, Kyra opened her eyes, trying to remain cautious as she felt the blaster that she had kept (and no one had revoked yet, surprisingly) inside of the back of her jacket pressed deeper into the spine. She had a weapon if it was needed.

But it wasn't necessary as Kyra stood up, moving over to where she saw something slinking into the shadows. An abrupt gasp escaped Kyra's lips as the person crawled into the light, bloodied and bruised from the injuries and tortue, revealing themselves to her.  She could recognize the comforting look of brotherly love and concern from a mile away- and she was shocked to see him in the same cell as her. "Silas?" Kyra whispered, quickly falling onto her knees as she saw her best friend there, reaching out her hand to meet his, finding his touch real and true.

There was a look of fear as Silas saw his best friend there, going against any of the wishes that he had tried to issue to her over the hologram. Kyra was here, holding his hand, as she assessed his injuries, a worried look on his face as his expression grew even more grim. She shouldn't have come- not with the plans that the First Order had for her.

"Kai. What are you doing here?"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

hey bestie baes and welcome back to ash is speedrunning her revamp after finally crawling out of her hiatus hole !

this one didn't have much change, as I kinda feel like this conversation still needs to be had within the story, I just took out some wonky lines and mentions of things that I feel like were no longer necessary to the plot

but the next revamp will probably take a little longer, so I do apologize, but things are running a bit more smoothly now than they were before!

alrighty, I think that's about everything, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I'll see you in the next one!

bye! :)