"They have no idea how beautiful the darkness really is."

-Unknown

CORA'S POV

    My eyes peeled open with effort. Kaiyus had kept me awake for most of the night, trying to force me to eat surgery substances that he called desert.

I shook my head, and began to get ready.

Last night was...different, but I couldn't have nights like those anymore.

We had a mission to endure,  and I couldn't become distracted.

After brushing my teeth and hair, I pulled on a tight black tank made of stretchy material and black pants.

I slid on my lace up boots and began making my way to the training room that Kylo told me was located at the East wing.

It was a well spaced area, with matts set up on one side.

Along the walls were spears, staffs, knifes, and swords.

I began stretching when I sensed a presence outside the training room.

I turned to see Kaiyus with an ear-to-ear grin.

"Leave." I growled at him as I turned around and walked over to the weaponry.

I sensed his determination as he walked over to me.

"Can I train with you?"

"No."

"Why? I can teach you stuff, you can teach me stuff. It'll be fun."

"Get. Out."

I picked up two of the throwing knifes.

He walked into my line of vision, and I sighed when I saw that he was wearing workout gear

This guy was fucking annoying.

I ignored his cries as I began working on my form, but his voice was bleeding through my concentration.

He needs to leave. Now.

Suddenly I felt his arm grab me, and I immediately grabbed his forearm and kicked at his feet. He flew to the ground and I pressed the blade to his neck.

His eyes were wide, his mouth open from shock.

"Leave me alone, Kaiyus." I said carefully.

His shock lasted only a few seconds, because the second I released my grip on him, he attacked me.

What. The. Fuck. Is. He. Doing.

He grabbed my waist and I dropped the knifes in my hands.

I kicked at him as he began to swing me around the room, almost as if he was trying to mock me.

Bad choice, Kaiyus.

I rammed my elbow into his jaw. He released his grip on me, and I flung out of his arms.

He wiped a smudge of blood from his mouth, and ran at me, all the humor was gone from his eyes.

I ducked a blow that he threw at me, and I used my small size to my advantage to make a blow to his abdomen.

He groaned and grabbed a staff that was by his side.

He swung at me, he was too fast for me to duck, and the metal staff hit into the side of my head.

I fell to the floor, the impact to my head was severe, and I no doubt had a concussion.

I held my head in my hands and groaned as a boot came in contact with my stomach. The blows were hard, and he seemed to not be holding back. He kicked me hard, and I felt blood rushing into my mouth,

The ringing in my head pounded as I kicked him, and he was momentarily caught off-guard

I guess we chose to alliance with him for a reason. He was a damn good fighter.

He was calculated, and it seemed that our prior 'friendly' affiliation didn't affect his fighting.

He didn't let his emotions hinder his attack, and that was the one thing that Kylo needed to work on.

Kaiyus was closed off when he needed to be, and didn't show emotion.

It's too bad that I let my emotions get in the way, and I only have one emotion.

And that's anger.

That's all I really need..

I felt blood dripping from my ear no doubt from an injury to my brain, but I ignored it. I pushed all of the pain away, and focused.

He swung the staff at me again, but using my power, I jumped far over it, and over him as well.

He turned around just in time to see me throw a punch at him.

Blood flew from his nose, but that didn't falter him.

He came running at me but I was ready.

He flew back as I kicked him and using the force I lifted him off the ground.

His hands were wrapped around his throat, his  fingers were pressed into the indent in his neck, as he choked himself.

His skin turned grey, his face purple from a lack of oxygen.

He wheezed and I smiled at the feeling of all this power.

I felt his emotions of embarrassment, rage, confusion, and defeat run through me.

His struggle for breath powered me.

I was getting into his head, I could feel his thoughts drifting off as he began to only focus on breathing.

I closed my eyes as I felt my power strengthening, his life slowly leaving his body.

My adrenaline was coursing through my body, and I wasn't going to stop until the life left his eyes.

A yell interrupted my thoughts.

"Cora!" The voice of Kylo screamed.

I immediately dropped Kaiyus as I saw Kylo and Eryk running into the room.

Eryk ran to Kaiyus, and Kylo slowly approached me.

His eyes softened as he looked at me. Dark shadows hung under his eyes.

"Cora..."

I said nothing. I didn't regret what I did, but I suppose I went a little too far.

Maybe it was 'just training' to him, but I felt like it was life or death to me.

I stumbled back a little, and realized the severity of this situation.

I could have killed him. The man who was supposed to help us kill Luke Skywalker.

I could have jeopardized this entire mission.

I felt something warm grab my hand and begin to lead me away.

Kylo had my hand in his.

Kylo Ren was holding my hand.

A warm feeling pooled inside my core and I winced at this childish feeling I was having.

"Cora, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Kylo. I'm fine."  That was the truth. I was fine. And that was the problem.

I felt power as I sucked the life out of Kaiyus, I felt the warm energy pulling through me as the life left his eyes.

I felt power from killing.

Physically I felt drained, my head was throbbing, the blood had stopped flowing from my ear but dried remanence clung to my hair.

In all reality, I felt like death,

My cheek was cut from the blade on the staff, and blood was smudged on my cheek.

He got quite a few good hits in.

I felt myself sway, and immediately Kylo was there, his hands wrapped around my waist to steady me.

I didn't want to like this affection, but for some unknown reason, I did.

His arms were strong around me as he half-carried me, each time my foot slipped on the tile of the hallway, he would lift me up and place me back on my feet.

I felt pain shoot up my leg and I winced.

"We're almost there." Kylo said softly, his voice was desperate almost as if he was worried, his compassion and sympathy was alien to me, and I immediately felt the need to push it away.

I was too weak at the moment.

Kaiyus was a worthy opponent.

Not as skilled as me or Kylo, but better than Eryk. His kind and light hearted personality could have people misjudge him for a careless and weak fighter. He was good.

I felt myself being lifted, but I didn't really feel it.

Kylo held me in his strong arms and began to run down the hall.

Each step he took, sent a sting into my head and I closed my eyes.

Nothing, I don't want to feel the pain right now.

I took in a deep breath and focused.

Suddenly the pain left me, it seemed to drip off me and soon, the pain was numb.

The burning and stinging was gone, replaced by a soft buzz, a numb feeling replaced my body, and all I could feel was the small thud with each step that Kylo took.

I frowned as he didn't take me into my room, but rather his.

The door swung open without him even touching it.

He ran me into his room and lay me down on his bed.

"Hey Cora, it's okay, you're fine. Tell me what hurts." His hands softly touched my shoulders and I looked at him.

I really looked at him.

There were never any boys that I had considered liking on Goreum's ship.

Sure there were fairly attractive men, but I had always been too busy training to ever take a particular liking.

Now, looking at Kylo, his eyes wide with worry, his lips moving but no words seeming to come out. His dark hair was tousled, his jaw was firm and sculpted, he was a very attractive man.

He was outlined, defined, yet somehow a shadow.

He looked older, sure he was quite a few years older than me, but he looked like he had been through and seen so much, his experiences had aged him.

He was strong, his power and strength was being shown in everything that he did. He was strong, emotional, and fearless.

He was probably the most attractive man that I had ever seen.

Suddenly, I felt everything coming back to me, the haze began to fade away and suddenly his voice surfaced and pierced my ears.

"Cora, please." He was pleading.

His eyes were wide, and desperate.

"I-I'm fine." I said slowly, my voice came out hoarse.

His eyebrows furrowed together, "Cora, you're bleeding from your ears, you could have some serious brain damage, and internal bleeding, please you need to work with me."

This, was so out of character.

"Kylo, I'm fine, honestly, we were just training."

He let go of my shoulders and stared at me.

"Cora. When I walked in, Kaiyus was moments from dying. He was fifteen feet off the floor, and he was coughing up blood. You were bleeding from your fucking ears, your face was all cut up and you looked like you were just in a war...and lost." He shook his head "that's not training."

I sensed the hundreds of questions running through his head, but he didn't say anything.

He pulled out a medical kit, wiped the blood off the cut on my cheek, and stopped.

"Cora, when did you get this?"

I frowned, "like ten minutes ago. Kaiyus had a blade, it's not a big deal."

"It's healed."

I froze and touched the cut on my face, and felt that it had sealed up, all that remained was a scab.

"It wasn't that deep. "

His jaw set, "how do you feel now?"

I sighed, "I feel fine, Kylo. He didn't get me that bad."

What's his problem?

"Well, you should rest."

I frowned as I stood up, "Kylo, I don't know if you forgot how things work around here. You do not tell me what to do. Ever. I don't need to rest. That battle just showed to me that I am weaker than I thought. If anything, I should be working twice as hard."

He stood up with me, his eyes were too soft,
Too compassionate. Too nice. I didn't deserve that.

"Cora. I'm trying to help you. We're a team, remember?" His voice was steady, and for once he didn't seem to be on the verge of losing his temper.

I breathed out and nodded.

"It's me and you, remember? Kaiyus and Eryk are here to help us. But in the end it's me and you, okay?"

"Yeah." I sat down, my head pounded and throbbed.

I felt the lightheadedness pour back into me.

The bed dipped down beside me, as he sat.

I leaned into him, it was an action that I had never found myself doing with anyone.

He radiated heat, his body warmed my cold self.

"We're in this together, Cora Drakon." He said, and I felt myself coming undone as he lay his arm over my shoulder .

Every time that I let my guard down around him, walls around me seem to crumble. The very walls that I had built around me were crumbling.

I felt my breath becoming strained as I buried my face into his shirt.

I was losing control.

I felt him hesitantly pull me closer.

"I wanted to kill him. I wouldn't have stopped." I said slowly as I kept my face pressed into him.

"I know." Was all he said as he held me tighter.

The pain slowly began to lessen, and fatigue was replaced.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep in Kylo Ren's arms.

KYLO REN POV:

I held her in my arms as she slept.

Her breathing was steady as she had fallen unconscious.

She wanted to kill him, something had happened to make her want to kill him.

If she was a normal human, she would have been dead. Her organs were no doubt ruptured, she had damage done to her head, and she had at least a couple broken ribs.

But she wasn't normal. Cora Drakon is so powerful that she healed herself in less than an hour. I saw it unfold before me, the gash in her cheek was bleeding one minute, and the next it was completely healed, with only a scab of remanence.

I shook my head as I held her.

She was beautiful, in an exotic way. Everything about her seemed different from anything else than I had ever seen.

She wasn't your typical tan, filled-in beauty.

She was small, slim, with womanly curves. She was pale, her skin shadowed. She had eyes that I had never seen before, the kind that made you feel defenseless.

She wasn't the kind of girl you would see, and smile out, or ask for her number, and continue on with your day,

She was the girl that would make you stop dead in your tracks, the kind that made your heart race, she was the kind of girl that you could never ever let go.

Her beauty was something that I could no longer deny.

I shook my head as I gently slipped out from underneath her. I grabbed a blanket, and lay it over her.

I slowly left the room, and began to make my way to see Kaiyus.

The second I saw him, my anger resurfaced.

He sat in the control room, a smirk danced on his bruised lips like he didn't have a care in the world.

He had a bloody nose which was no doubt broken, a small brace was on his neck, and there were bruises all over his neck and face.

"What the fuck happened?" I growled as I walked over to him, I found it hard , but I restrained myself from punching him.

That smirk remained on his beaten face.

"She's feisty."

I had my hand on my saber, I squeezed the metal as I held myself back from slashing him in the fucking face.

"Kylo, just relax."  I felt Eryk by my side.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do. Either this useless little bastard tells me what happened, or I kill you both."

"Whoa, calm down there sheriff. I was just messing with her, and I guess she didn't want to have a little fun."  He shrugged.

"Messing with her? Are you out of your fucking mind? She grew up isolated, she doesn't even know how to smile, she doesn't know the first thing about living a normal life. Messing with a lord as powerful as her, is foolish."

He shook his head and waved it off, "I handled it."

I took a step forward, "handled it? You were fifteen feet off the ground, almost dead, you would've been dead if it wasn't for me. I'm starting to regret intervening."

"I just wanted to see how she fights."

Eryk shook his head, "well now you know, dumbass. I thought you were there when she nearly killed me."

He shrugged and pulled the metal brace off.

He winced but took it off, apparently this little fuck was 'too good' for a necessary brace.

"You'd better be healed when we reach Luke Skywalker. I have no problem with executing dead weight."

He saluted me, "yes sir."

I clenched and unclenched my fists, before turning to Eryk.

"We need to set a course for Luke Skywalker."

"Okay, where to?"

I actually didn't know where to set course.

I opened my mouth to reply, when a soft voice interrupted.

"Head for the Gorvel system."

I turned to see Cora in the doorway, she looked like she had showered, the cut on her face was faded, her hair was washed free of blood, and now hung free down her back.

She wore a dark black sweater that hung loose around her shoulders.

Her eyes flickered to me before settling on Eryk.

"Luke Skywalker is located on a hidden planet near the Gorvel system." Her accent was thick as she spoke, her R's were rolled, and she lacked in annunciation.

Eryk nodded before turning to the controls, and began to set course.

She turned to Kaiyus who sat with an amused smile on his lips.

"I don't regret what I did to you, but I would have felt bad if you had died."

I couldn't help from smiling, she had, in her own odd way, apologized.

"I'm sorry I'm not that great of a fighter."

"Actually" she shrugged "you're fairly good, I broke a couple ribs. At least you're better than Eryk."

Did she just make a joke?

Well kind of

"Well" Kaiyus said with a cocky smile as he rubbed his stomach "I could use some desert, Cora? You in?"

Desert?

She shook her head as she looked over at me and I frowned.

"What's desert?"  I asked slowly.

Suddenly something happened that I thought I would never live to see, Cora smiled.

Her bleach white teeth showed as she smiled at me, "I'll show you. I have been trained in the ways of desert."

I felt my heart skip as I saw her smile, I would never forget this moment.

I felt myself smiling back at her.

What the fuck was going on?

We're killers, murderers, we are the dark side. We don't joke, we don't smile, and I just witnessed the most powerful dark lord, smile.

I guess the impossible really is possible.

But that only made me question what else Cora Drakon was capable of.