Author's Note: I am in no way affiliated with Lucasfilm or Disney, and I own nothing except a vivid imagination.

This is a one shot written after watching The Force Awakens but before seeing The Last Jedi, and is now overtaken by canon. Huge Reylo fan.

I have previously posted on Tumblr.

The rain pelted down on two figures on the edge of a sheer drop, the roar of the ocean below in the darkness. Soaked to the skin and bleeding, Rey found her moment and with both hands thrust her saber forward. The light blade pierced the dark knight who had attacked her and he paused briefly, before dropping to his knees.

Rey ran towards the green glow of Luke's light saber and engaged the next assailant in her way. The reach of her saber gave her the advantage and with one, two, three blows she pushed him back and then over the edge.

Then, that sound. The spit and crackle of a unique weapon behind her. She knew the very one and felt a red mist rising within her. Him. Kylo Ren. The monster that killed his own father, who maimed Finn.

She whirled, ready to finish what the chasm on Starkiller Base had prevented her from doing the first time. He stood there, unmasked. Yet there was no reflection of her hate in his eyes.

Her ankle! A hand reached out and before Rey could comprehend, she jerked backwards and out into open air. She reached out, scrambling for something to grasp onto, but she was already beyond the cliff edge.

Kylo Ren's face changed. "No!"

And then gravity caught her, the wind rushing by her as she plummeted. Then she remembered the Force, and managed to twist and turn, hoping not to hit rock, in time to see the black waves beneath her and assume a position to help her cut through the surface of the water.

It was only once she was submerged that it dawned on her that, as someone that had until very recently barely had enough to drink, that she had no idea how to swim. Rey reached and kicked with her arms and legs to find the surface, and it was only then the tentacles found her.

Her hands able to grab nothing more substantial than seaweed, Rey panicked and received a lung full of saltwater. She began to feel her own life force slipping away from her as she drowned.

And then, as if in a dream, the tentacles fell away and she rose, limp in the unseen arms that held her. They dragged her from the ocean onto gravelly sand, the occasional wave flooding the area around her body.

"Breathe!" A voice said through gritted teeth, as large hands forced the water out and air into her lungs. With a cough and a splutter his plea was granted, and Rey rolled onto her side, coughing.

And then it dawned on her, and she looked up at her rescuer as he leaned over her concerned, apprehensive...relieved? Rey's brow furrowed as she tried to reconcile this with everything she knew about Kylo Ren. The battle...he jumped off the cliff after her?

"You! Why?"

"I had to." His voice was as deep and intense as she remembered, his gaze just as unwavering.

And for a while they both caught their breath and said nothing more.