( He and Skywalker look at each other for a long time without breaking, thoughts passing between them and skimming the surface with the barest brush of contact. Did you let him in? Skywalker projects toward him, the angle of his chin betraying his line of thought without his uncle even having to open himself up to him. You were too weak to keep him out, Kylo responds, showing his profile to the man who joins them in the throng of debate as he glances down at the touch Rey delivers to his elbow. The pressure of her palm and fingers is a strange thing now, compared to what it was moments ago on the planes of their joined consciousness. Not unwelcome, he is quick to realize, but oddly solid and tangible. It's a brief moment of contact but noticeable all the same.
The suggestion of Skywalker's presence approaches his mind yet again but Rey is speaking before Kylo has the option of pushing the argument further, drawing him into the conversation in a way that he cannot simply just be absent from. The feeling of him at the edge of Kylo's mind falls away as he turns all his focus and attention on the girl at his side. Even so, his uncle's power burns like a roaring fire out of all of them, next to the candle of his own ability. Rey roars bright as well, like a supernova, and Kylo has the decency to feel embarrassed under the encroaching heat of her faith in him, whether unknowingly misplaced or otherwise, though for the most part his face remains impassive, neutral, until Skywalker accuses him of exactly everything he deserves to be accused of. His lip curls in half a snarl, ready to flay the older man, but Rey beats him to the punch in a way he is decidedly not expecting.
He refuses to look at her as she staunchly defends him to the two people in the galaxy who have the supreme right to have him drawn and quartered, and he doesn't know how he feels about that so he looks at Organa and settles into a comfortable simmer while he investigates the lines on her face, how old she's become in the last twenty years. It's only when Rey begins speaking about him as if he isn't standing a foot away from her that he pushes his way back into the conversation with all the subtlety and grace of a battering ram. )
I wouldn't have agreed to your experiment if that were the case.
( The tone he uses finds no home for or comfort in the sympathetic look that Organa doles out for Rey's sake. If anything, it feeds off of it and clips his words short, agitated. He wants to yell. He wants to call his saber back to his side and lash out at everything around him with the weight of all that has transpired in this tiny little room. Kylo feels it prickling under his skin and knows, in that moment, that no matter how far and distant he is from the Supreme Leader's reach or influence, these trends toward dark violence will always be there, will always be a part of him no matter where he goes or who he fights for. But when Organa diverts her attention from the girl next to him to settle on him once more, there is something underneath the steel and mettle in her gaze that gives her all away and makes him feel about eight-years-old.
It's being on the bridge with his father twenty times, each with increased violence and desperation, that clawing, aching despair that had gutted him unexpectedly. Coupled with Rey's steadfast, determined need to defend him, her admittedly naive but not unfounded or incorrect faith that what they had done hadn't been in vain, and the distinct disbelief that she not only expresses but floods their connection with in the most precise way that he has felt since they returned - he calms himself. )
Snoke wouldn't suffer such an act of betrayal just for the benefit of having a spy within your ranks. He would never want me so close to the two of you without being able to have his own direct channel of influence. And as Rey can attest, whatever connection there was between myself and the Supreme Leader has been eliminated. No more direct channels. If you don't want to hinge your evacuation on me, then hinge it on someone you've already established you can trust. I have no intention of dying today. ( He answers Skywalker's question without looking at the man. ) Just as I'm sure you have no intention of losing the meat and potatoes of your fleet to Snoke's inevitable retaliation.
no subject
The suggestion of Skywalker's presence approaches his mind yet again but Rey is speaking before Kylo has the option of pushing the argument further, drawing him into the conversation in a way that he cannot simply just be absent from. The feeling of him at the edge of Kylo's mind falls away as he turns all his focus and attention on the girl at his side. Even so, his uncle's power burns like a roaring fire out of all of them, next to the candle of his own ability. Rey roars bright as well, like a supernova, and Kylo has the decency to feel embarrassed under the encroaching heat of her faith in him, whether unknowingly misplaced or otherwise, though for the most part his face remains impassive, neutral, until Skywalker accuses him of exactly everything he deserves to be accused of. His lip curls in half a snarl, ready to flay the older man, but Rey beats him to the punch in a way he is decidedly not expecting.
He refuses to look at her as she staunchly defends him to the two people in the galaxy who have the supreme right to have him drawn and quartered, and he doesn't know how he feels about that so he looks at Organa and settles into a comfortable simmer while he investigates the lines on her face, how old she's become in the last twenty years. It's only when Rey begins speaking about him as if he isn't standing a foot away from her that he pushes his way back into the conversation with all the subtlety and grace of a battering ram. )
I wouldn't have agreed to your experiment if that were the case.
( The tone he uses finds no home for or comfort in the sympathetic look that Organa doles out for Rey's sake. If anything, it feeds off of it and clips his words short, agitated. He wants to yell. He wants to call his saber back to his side and lash out at everything around him with the weight of all that has transpired in this tiny little room. Kylo feels it prickling under his skin and knows, in that moment, that no matter how far and distant he is from the Supreme Leader's reach or influence, these trends toward dark violence will always be there, will always be a part of him no matter where he goes or who he fights for. But when Organa diverts her attention from the girl next to him to settle on him once more, there is something underneath the steel and mettle in her gaze that gives her all away and makes him feel about eight-years-old.
It's being on the bridge with his father twenty times, each with increased violence and desperation, that clawing, aching despair that had gutted him unexpectedly. Coupled with Rey's steadfast, determined need to defend him, her admittedly naive but not unfounded or incorrect faith that what they had done hadn't been in vain, and the distinct disbelief that she not only expresses but floods their connection with in the most precise way that he has felt since they returned - he calms himself. )
Snoke wouldn't suffer such an act of betrayal just for the benefit of having a spy within your ranks. He would never want me so close to the two of you without being able to have his own direct channel of influence. And as Rey can attest, whatever connection there was between myself and the Supreme Leader has been eliminated. No more direct channels. If you don't want to hinge your evacuation on me, then hinge it on someone you've already established you can trust. I have no intention of dying today. ( He answers Skywalker's question without looking at the man. ) Just as I'm sure you have no intention of losing the meat and potatoes of your fleet to Snoke's inevitable retaliation.