A soul! a soul! a soul cake!
Please good missus, a soul cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all.
Rey walks down the corridor towards the waiting area carrying a white cardboard box. No one notices her, well, almost no one. She comes to a halt as her eyes meet his - his sunglasses, that is. He is there already, large as life. The two of them have certainly seen the inside of a lot of hospitals over the years.
Kylo Ren lounges on a battered brown vinyl couch beneath a blinking strip light as if he has all the time in the world, which, strictly speaking, he does. Rey bites her bottom lip as he uses a hand to brush his long raven hair away from his face. She can almost feel it, soft and silky between her own fingers. His outfit has her rolling her eyes — he is all in black, as usual. But then, she is likewise as predictable in her white jeans and matching leather jacket. The fluffy silver scarf is new, though.
"Don't try and tell me there's been another administrative error," Kylo drawls sliding his sunglasses off to reveal his mischievous honey eyes. "This one is ours, for sure."
"We will see about that," Rey challenges gesturing for him to clear space on the coffee table so she can set down her cardboard box. "You're making a mess," she scolds as he sweeps a pile of magazines to the floor.
A passing nurse picks them up and Kylo offers Rey an unapologetic shrug in reply to her unimpressed glare.
"What's in the box?" he inquires capturing her hands in his once they are free.
He wears black leather gloves to her white ones. Touching without barriers is better, but they will save that for later.
"Don't you know what day it is?" Rey asks giving him a cheeky grin.
"My birthday, with any luck," Kylo smirks pulling her in for a kiss.
She evades his lips and slips free of his grasp. "Let's deal with the business before we get to the pleasure, shall we?"
He pouts and goes into a sulk. "This one is definitely ours, so you might as well buzz off back to your cloud if you're not going to be nice to me."
Rey fixes him with a stern glare. "I'm always nice to you," she argues slumping onto the brown vinyl couch.
"Ah, sweetheart," Kylo says his finger tracing the deep scar that runs down the right side of his face and neck disappearing beneath his black sweater.
"It could have been worse," she sighs wistfully, "for both of us."
He scowls before exhaling loudly and flopping down beside her on the couch. "We have come a long way since then."
"We have," Rey agrees. "The scars are in the inside now."
A nurse walks towards the waiting area with a priest in tow and Kylo hisses as they pass by. The chaplain turns his head fleetingly as if he heard and then he enters the hospital room to their left.
"Stop that," Rey chides. "He is only doing his duty."
"It won't do either of them any good. The man he's going to see signed his soul away long ago," Kylo sneers.
"He is a politician, isn't he?" Rey frowns. "We don't see many of those upstairs."
"Your lot won't be getting this one, either," Kylo states with certainty. "Not even if you cheat on the coin toss again."
She sticks her tongue out at him. "I never cheat, you're just a sore loser."
"Did you tell them how you won that one, hmm?" he taunts. "The fate of a person's soul decided by choosing heads over tails."
Rey blushes and fidgets with her scarf. "It was only that once, and I didn't technically break any rules," she insists.
Kylo regards her with incredulity. "Fraternization between your kind and mine is definitely frowned upon — on both sides."
"What side was he on? Politically speaking, I mean," she asks indicating towards the room where a man lay dying.
"Does it matter?" Kylo is growing impatient for his due.
"If he signed his name in the devil's book, I don't suppose it does," Rey says with an air of disappointment. "Anyway, I'm not here for his soul."
Kylo playfully nudges her shoulder with his. "Why are you here, then?"
"It's November the second," she declares as if he should know its significance.
He shakes his head, appearing totally nonplussed.
"All Souls' Day?" Rey queries rolling her eyes as he shrugs again and she points towards the cardboard box. "I brought cake."
Kylo leans over to flip the lid open. Inside, sit two dozen yellowish, round scone-like cakes topped with currants in the shape of a cross. He twists his mouth in distaste.
"Everyone knows about Halloween, but people go trick-or-treating now instead of going a-souling. Take a cake, say a prayer or sing a song, and release a soul from purgatory," Rey explains with a grin.
"There is only one sweet thing I'm planning on eating tonight," Kylo twitches his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, "and I won't be saving anyone's soul in the process."
Rey laughs despite herself. "I'm only here to deliver cakes and save souls," she insists with mock innocence. "Anyway, in case you've forgotten, you've got a job to do."
As if on cue, the priest comes out of the hospital room with the nurse as the man's family weep behind them.
"Wait for me, sweetheart, please," Kylo begs capturing her lips in an unexpected and tender kiss. "I know you didn't come here just to deliver cakes. You could have dropped them off anywhere."
Rey doesn't disagree; she shouldn't have sought him out but she did. She looks up at him with tears in her eyes and nods. "I'll wait."
He knows that look. "Hey," he says reaching out to touch her cheek. "Do you remember what you told me?"
She covers his hand with hers as a silver teardrop falls. "If it's love, it's not a sin."
"I have committed many sins but loving you isn't one of them," Kylo swears.
"I could be cast out for this," Rey worries her lips trembling.
"You're not alone," he vows. "If the worst comes to the worst, we will be outcasts together."
Kylo pulls off one of his gloves and Rey removes one of hers. Palm to palm, they entwine their fingers, his hot and hers cold as they exchange a soft and slow kiss.
"An angel and a demon," she murmurs watery-eyed but smiling. "Who would have thought it?"
Kylo lets out a diabolical chuckle as he dissolves into a black shadow, his collection box at the ready. "Go, save some souls, I'll be back before you can say WxrtHltl-jwlpklz."
"You really are evil," Rey calls fondly after him as he disappears under the door of the dead man's room.
She picks up her box of cakes and takes it over to the nurse station.
Down into the cellar,
And see what you can find,
If the barrels are not empty,
We hope you will prove kind.
We hope you will prove kind,
With your apples and strong beer,
And we'll come no more a-souling
Till this time next year.
All Souls' Day is mainly observed in Catholic countries now. But the practice of making and handing out soul cakes, mainly to children and the poor, dates back to medieval times.
The tradition was popular in Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages and is thought to be the origin of trick-or-treating. The soul cakes were usually filled with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and raisins or currants. The top of each cake was marked with a cross before baking to signify they were alms. They were given to children or poor people who would go 'souling' from door to door, offering a prayer or a song for the souls of the dead in return for a cake.
I have included the chorus and verse from the traditional Soul Cake song at the beginning and end of this fic. Many versions of it have been recorded, most notably by The Watersons, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Sting.
The unpronounceable demon name is a Terry Pratchett reference.
Happy Halloween to you all!