Rey wakes groggy and slow as if she has been drugged. As her eyes struggle to focus in the bright white light of the small infirmary room, her suspicions are confirmed. All around her medical equipment whirs and beeps away as it monitors for things she fears to find out.
She must be hurt.
Rey closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. How bad is it? She now becomes aware that her head aches terribly and one arm feels a bit numb. It takes two attempts, but she sits up gingerly to assess the damage. And that's when her attention is instantly diverted from her inventory of hurts.
He's here.
Kylo Ren is seated silently watching her in a chair at the foot of her bed. It's creepy how much this moment reminds her of waking up on Starkiller Base, strapped down for torture. Rey chokes on her breath. "You!"
Her pulse quickens and her adrenaline starts pumping. Just the presence of this dangerous, unpredictable man feels threatening. And to think, she had been foolish enough to trust him. To want to help him. First, Luke Skywalker had turned out not to be the hero she and the Resistance needed. Then, Kylo Ren had turned out not to be the victim she could save.
Her mind reboots and it all comes rushing back. She remembers confronting Snoke and surviving her own execution. Then the battle and the abrupt offer to join forces that followed. The Resistance ships were being picked off fast as Rey made a desperate grab for her saber. She and Ben were locked in a contest of power until the sword split without warning. The last thing Rey remembers is a flash of light before everything went black.
And now, she wakes up here with him. With Kylo Ren, the unabashedly unredeemed Dark prince of the First Order.
He stands now and walks a few steps to loom over her. He doesn't speak. He just looks down with that intense, enigmatic expression of his. And now Rey is having flashbacks to landing on Snoke's ship in the Falcon's escape capsule. Sitting here naked beneath her blouson medical gown, everything about this man makes her feel vulnerable. This is very uncomfortable.
"How do you feel?" he asks softly. She looks at him in confusion and he fills her in. "You got out of a bacta tank an hour ago. The cut on your arm is basically healed. So are the rest of your superficial injuries. You will still have lingering effects from the concussion. The concussion was severe."
She nods blankly, still lost in all of this. "Is it from the saber splitting?" she asks.
"There was an energy release from breaking the crystal. But most likely it was from the war crime that followed."
"War crime?" she blinks. Rey is befuddled and her head really hurts. It's hard to think.
"A Resistance cruiser jumped to lightspeed straight through our fleet. It sheared off a third of Snoke's ship and caused catastrophic damage that spread through the hull. It crippled the ship."
"Oh."
He reaches his gloved hand towards her face now. It reminds Rey of him invading her mind on Takodano and then on Starkiller Base. It's yet another unsettling posture that sets off alarm bells in her mind. Rey instinctively shies away and rolls to scramble off the other side of the bed. She backs away as far as she can in the small room.
"Don't!" Rey hollers in her best gruff scavenger tone even as she sways and struggles to stay on her feet. Standing up was not a wise move she discovers a little too late.
He pulls his hand back as if stung. His face is a frown as he continues, "You lost consciousness for hours and you have been kept sedated for two days. It was the best way to heal you. You will make a complete recovery in time."
Yes, she clearly needs more time to heal because Rey is seeing spots and it feels like her head is on fire. She senses herself sliding down the wall. She's powerless to stop it. It's like she has no sense of balance or strength left.
He skirts the bed fast and steps forward with arms outstretched to intercept her.
But even in her foggy state, Rey knows to resist. "Don't touch me!" she growls as she bats him away. She's panicky now to be so weak and injured before this man. Just because he declined to kill her and killed his Master instead does not mean that she is safe. There is nothing she would put past Kylo Ren. He is capable of anything she now knows.
As she slips down, he sinks too. Now he is in a crouch before her sprawled and fuzzy on the floor. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you," he tells her almost angrily. Like he is offended at her reaction.
"Don't touch me!" Rey snarls back. And now other hands are reaching for her as the medical equipment on the wall starts beeping very loudly. But all Rey sees is him. She is not at her best to face this man right now, but still she rallies. "Get away from me, Kylo Ren!"
"You used to call me Ben." His face has an indignant, troubled cast.
"Not anymore," she pants. This comes out as a whisper that is full of vehement regret. Rey had seen Ben Solo in the man the entire galaxy sees as Kylo Ren. Like an idealistic fool, she had thought that one small spark of humanity in him meant that all he needed was compassion to be redeemed. She had been wrong. Skywalker had warned her, but she hadn't listened. Even Kylo Ren had admitted he was a monster. But still . . . she had felt so certain. In the aftermath, Rey feels a fool. And terribly disappointed too. Are things better or worse now that Snoke is dead? Rey isn't sure. She fears that she has done more harm than good.
"Sir, let us help her," an unfamiliar voice politely insists. "Head injury patients often wake disoriented and confused. We will sedate her some more. It is for the best."
"N-No," Rey groans as a hand with a needle comes at her. "No drugs!" In desperation, she summons the Force to resist. But it is too little, too late. "You are the worst!" she rasps at Kylo Ren. Then, everything goes blank.
The last thing Rey sees are his dark eyes looking as disappointed as she feels.