TFAJ - 15 - Push Back Scene

“You’ve been so lonely. So afraid to leave.” His tendrils crept around her memories, her dreams. “At night, desperate to sleep, you imagine an ocean. I can see it. I can see the island.”

Focusing on her loneliness, recalling the sadness that plagued her life, brought tears to Rey’s eyes. They streamed down her face, droplets that would have been precious on Jakku.

(...)

Rey knew this was a ploy. The man did not care about anything other than himself and his goals. “Get…out…of my…head!” she fumed.

“Rey,” he said, pulling out her name from the echoes of her thoughts, “you’ve seen the map. It’s in there. And I’m going to take it. Don’t be afraid.”

Fear. That’s not what she felt. She wasn’t afraid of him. She knew what he could do and was trying to fight him. No. He was talking about himself. What he felt. His weakness. Fear was the portal into his mind.

She turned his tendrils back at him. His feelings and memories were easy to read. His mind was a turbulent ocean of fear. “You, you’re afraid. That you will never be as strong as—” She hesitated. An image of another man in a black cloak and mask dominated the maelstrom. A silhouette she had seen in the vision below Maz’s castle. He had a name. “Darth Vader.”

The gloved hand jerked away from her face. Her interrogator staggered, as if hammered by an invisible blow.