Chapter 38.

At the last loud sound, the room watched in shock as Rey's lightsaber broke through the final wall, tearing through one of the giant's arms that held her down.

Grasping her weapon, Rey ignited it, the purple light reflecting off of her yellow eyes.

The giant that previously held her down, was roaring in pain as his hand left Rey and held his mangled arm, freeing her.

Acting quick on the opportunity, a rageful Rey swung the saber behind her, clipping the leg of the giant as she pushed off of her knees, yanking her other arm free as she skids back and delivers another wide swipe with her lightsaber, the giant's leg slicing in half.

Rolling out of the way, she swiftly dodged the hammer fist that the other giant attempted to hit her with, and struck her saber down at his wrist.

Another roar of pain pierced the air.

Doing her best to stand, Rey deeply inhaled as she shut her eyes, focusing on the anger that soared through her veins.

Eyes still shut, she spoke.

"Vicar Ren, a master of machinery." Her eyes flickered open and met his. "The difference between you and I," her breathing hardened. "Is that I do not need any device to feel your biggest fear."

Vicar's eyes widened and shot to Sano, and Sano's head whipped to meet his father's eyes.

With the quickest flick of her wrist, Rey shot her lightsaber out, letting it boomerang across Sano's body, curving to the right and piercing through the last giant before landing right back to her grip.

Vicar yelled, cursing at her as his veins popped, his face glowing red as he watched his son's body fall to the floor.

The room stood still as Rey moved her gaze to Paz.

Through Rey's mind, all that echoed was Paz's laughter when Makeem killed Kai.

In this instant, Rey swore to never think of the laugh again.

Rey's palm faced outward, a slow rumble coursing its way through the ground below them, joining in the yells of Vicar. Kylo shot up from his chair, his mind racing as he felt what was going to happen.

Whips of electricity lapped from her fingertips out to Paz, her body floating in midair as waves and waves of electricity stung and burned her bones. Extending out her other palm, Rey did the same to Makeem, tears running free from the corner of her dark, yellow eyes.

Their screams pierced the air as General Hux cowered in the corner, shutting his eyes tight as he whimpered, knelt behind a chair.

Kylo's breathing stilled, his eyes wide.

He knew this would happen, untamed, raw power has never ended good.

Though, he knew they deserved this.

Even him himself.

With no life left to take from either Paz or Makeem, Rey let her sore arms fall to her side, watching as their bodies feel to the platform, eventually rolling off to the ground.

The rest of the room was too shocked, too scared, to say anything, to even move an inch.

Rey blinked, her jaw tightening as she tried to suppress a sob. Her eyes fell to the floor, slowly drifting until she found her friend.

Tears trickled down her blood-stained cheek as she slowly limped towards her, soft sobs coming to life. As she approached a lifeless Kai, Rey fell to her knees, her eyes shutting as grief struck her deep again.

Rey tried to place her hands on her, as if to wake her up, but anywhere she laid her hands, blood was soaked deep. Her eyes shut tight as her forehead slowly pressed to Kai's, as if she could just transfer her own life to the younger ones.

But nothing worked.

Rey held Kai in her arms, wishing she had strength to bring her back, to go back in time...

Anything.

Anything at all, as long as it resulted in Kai's life being saved.

Yet, just as her nightmare predicted, that didn't happen.

Instead, Rey held on, as tight as she could as she rocked Kai softly.

And then, in the pocket of Kai's disguise, she felt it, right when Vicar spoke from behind her, having jumped from the platform to the ground, towering over Sano's body just a foot away.

"You piece of....you're....YOU'RE SCUM! YOU'RE DEAD! YOUR LIFE IS MINE!" Vicar roared.

Rey refused to turn, instead she looked down at Kai's face, admiring every inch of it with sad, broken eyes.

She felt Vicar right behind her then, grabbing her by the hair and yanking her back, and in the background, she saw Kylo look over to General Hux, reaching down to his own lightsaber to kill the traitor as more of Vicar's men piled into the room.

Rey's eyes fell back to Vicar, her hazel eyes slowly coming back, traces of yellow washing away.

Vicar spat at her feet, his fist raising, a blade shining from his hard grip.

He abruptly froze, his eyes wide, his mouth already cursing her again as he watched Rey's own fist come up, opening to reveal a bomb detonator she had taken from Kai's pocket.

Her eyes on Vicar's, she pushed the button.

( X )

He... He couldn't think...

There was orange...and red...

Everywhere...

Heat burnt his skin, and his eyes struggled to open...

His mind called for her...

Just barely...

But there was no answer...

Only silence...

Just silence...

( X )

Kylo woke with a start.

His eyes darted from the ground to every corner of the room, searching for answers, searching for Hux, searching for Vicar...Searching for Rey.

He found that he was alone, random bits of metal flung around the room, the sound of crackling fire filled his ears, giving company to the ringing in his mind.

He gasped for air, struggling to see through the dark smoke.

Groaning and hissing, he shoved away part of the platform that had fallen onto his leg. What happened?

He wasn't sure.

The last thing he remembered...

He had his eyes set on Hux. The damned little rat. He had the nerve to beg for his life, to apologize. Only moments after, he was cursing Kylo. He remembered grabbing hold of his lightsaber, his thumb hovering over the button to ignite his weapon...

And then...

The explosion...

Gathering himself, Kylo stumbled as he stood, again looking around the torn throne room for any signs of life. The room itself was a mess, the walls torn down and half of it on fire, the ground decorated with bodies here and there. Walking with heavy steps, Kylo made his way to an opening off to the side of a corner, the wall having blown in half, exposing the hot sun outside.