Dear Reylos!
I hope you will enjoy this one. It will be dealing with emotions and fluff as well as dirty naughtiness. If any of you who read my first fic are reading this, thank you for sticking with me! I have tried to refine my English writing skills and hopefully you notice a difference.
Please let me know how you feel about the story as it proceeds, even if it is just once and in a few words. It helps me a lot as a writer to know how you react to things.
May the Force be with You. Always.
The cold woke her up.
It was numbing at first. Then biting.
Rey slowly opened her eyes. She could not move. Something burned at the wrists and ankles, spreading to her throat as she tried to turn her head.
There were thick metal straps holding her body in place on some kind of table, similar to the one she had been tied to at Starkiller Base.
The room came into focus. A small space with the simplicity of a ship's cabin. Broken glass lay against the wall, beside a dark-clad tall figure that appeared unconscious.
She blinked several times. It was him.
Where was Luke?
Pieces of a puzzle whirled in her mind, refusing to make sense. They had been walking along a shore somewhere. A lightsaber was in her hand, but they were only practicing. Luke's green blade parried her every attack with perfection and she made awkward attempts to repeat his moves.
There was no time to put the memories in order. Kylo Ren was lying in a heap against the wall, far too close. He did not move and a dark trickle of blood streamed down his pale brow, over an ugly scar running across his face. His right arm was bent in an unnatural angle.
Rey drew a deep breath and focused on the force, the way Luke had taught her. The straps released their grip, one by one. As the last one let go, she fell to the floor and rolled off to hit the wall with a surprised cry. The whole room was leaning sideways.
Cursing and plucking the shards of glass from her skin, her eyes fell on Kylo Ren's belt. He was only at an arm's distance from her. Her lightsaber hung beside his. She reached for it with a hammering pulse.
A few agonizing seconds passed as she tried to figure out how he had fastened the weapons to the belt. Then both lightsabers came loose and slipped into her trembling grip.
She held her own tightly, putting the heavier one in her lap.
His dark eyelashes moved slightly.
This was it. Here was the opportunity to save the galaxy from more suffering with one, swift stab. She could do it the same way he had murdered his father.
Rey held the handle of her saber close to his chest, aiming the front to his heart. Only a slight pressure on the switch and it would be over. He was rotten to the core. Everyone would thank her for it.
Her blood pumped with increasing heat. The power she had over his life flooded everything with a dark, pleasant arousal. The tables had certainly turned.
A vague, unwelcome memory flickered by, one of Luke gazing at her across a camp fire.
"The road to the dark side is filled with good intentions, Rey. You did well not to deal him that final blow."
Damn Luke. Damn the entire Jedi code.
"No Jedi would strike a defenseless enemy down, no matter what the circumstances. We are not killers. There is no excuse for anything outside the code of self-defense."
Could this not be interpreted as self-defense?
She sighed heavily, knowing the answer all too well.
Fastening both lightsabers to her belt, she rose and fought against gravity to climb to the only door in sight.
The door had to be pulled aside, as the machinery did not respond.
A cockpit waited on the other side. The two pilots were still strapped to their seats. The force told her they were dead. The window in front of her was covered with something white and glimmering. Snow?
The floor revealed a ramp that had to be the exit. It was easy to figure out which buttons and levers to push. To make the ramp move turned out to be harder. Then she caught sight of the escape shutter. Wrenching it open, she stuck her head out and was hit by a blast of icy winds, throwing white, cold flakes in her face. She cried out and retreated, closing the shutter quickly.
An inner alarm went off. He was waking up.
The pilots had blasters and she stuck them to her belt. Then she climbed back into the passenger compartment and put one foot against the wall and the other against the floor to get a steady stance.
Igniting the lightsaber, she waited.
He came to his senses in a matter of seconds. His black eyes were drowsy and unfocused, but he must have sensed her standing close, for his gaze became sharp and attentive fast. Their eyes met.
His left hand grasped the empty side of his belt. Then he lowered his eyelids to focus on the lightsaber in her hand before looking back at her.
"Drop the weapon." He said in a low voice.
There was no fear from him, only discomfort from the pain.
"You are not the one giving orders here." Rey declared, raising her chin. "Explain this!"
He made a short, dismissive huff and waved his hand.
Her body froze as if a thousand heavy shackles held it in place. Eyes narrowed, she concentrated; pushing his powers backwards. The intensity of his invisible grip decreased. Then her limbs started to move slowly, as if she was deep under the surface of an ocean.
She moved the blue blade towards him, one inch at a time.
His lightsaber was torn off from her belt so fast she failed to catch it as it soared towards his waiting hand. She concentrated all her power into a push and wrenched free from her paralyzed state for the second it took to kick him in the face.
Blood spattered as his head slammed against the wall. She floated his weapon back into her hand.
"You want more, or have you had it?" She snarled. "I will hurt you really bad if you try anything else! Where are we? What is this?"
Kylo Ren's face turned slowly towards her. His eyes seemed blacker.
"You are my prisoner." He said.
"Really? How about this? You are my prisoner now and you are going to tell me everything I need to know!"
Blood came from his nose and mouth. He wiped it off with the back of his hand, never breaking eye contact.
"What do you think you need to know, scavenger? That you are trapped on a desolate planet with me and that I am the only one who can get us out of here?"
"You are unbelievable."
The pieces were falling into place. She had stayed with Luke on the island where she had found him, being tutored in the ancient arts of the Jedi for several months. Then they had returned to D'qar, continuing the training. Finn had woken up, they had kissed- oh, that kiss- and Leia had sent them off to a small mission on Takodana, to ask Maz Kanata for aid in a mission.
And just like the last time, Kylo Ren had caught her unawares as she had ventured into the woods on her own to find a peaceful spot for meditation. This time she did not even sense him before his hand was on the back of her skull, forcing her into a heavy sleep. There had only been that second when she had known who did it before she was out.
Was Finn alright?
She tipped her head slightly to the side.
"It does not take a genius to see how we are going to leave this place." She said. "The ship needs to be repaired and lifted into the right position. That's it."
"Is it?"
She drew air into her lungs, deeply and slowly, to master herself.
"Do not move." She said. "I am going to look for tools and make an estimation of the damage. If you try to do anything…"
"…you will hurt me badly." He finished. "Such an asset you would be for me."
There was a hint of something in his tone that made her uncomfortable.
"By the way, your arm is broken." She said, starting to climb out of the room. "But your side of the force likes pain don't you? So gorge in it, I don't mind."
"You will find no tools on this ship."
She stopped and stared at him.
"Are you serious? Why would there be no tools?"
He rose, staggering only slightly before standing tall with an impressive display of dignity despite his situation. He took hold of his broken arm and set it right with a horrifying cracking sound. She winced.
"There is an abandoned base nearby." He said. "I made sure to aim for it before the pilots lost control over the ship."
"What do you want, applause? Where are we?"
"Hoth, in the Outer Rim."
"What can we expect to find on this base?"
"Hopefully all you need to repair the ship so we can continue our journey."
"All I need to…!"
Rey fought to get her racing pulse under control.
"This place is getting colder by the minute." She said. "We need to find a heat source, water and food. Then we will tend to the ship. Do not think I will let you sit and order me around."
"You know how to repair ships." He said. "I have other matters to attend."
"You have not!"
"We'll see."
She locked eyes with him, nodding slowly.
"Yes. We'll see."
Leaving the ship became a cumbersome project.
Rey took blankets from his bunk and made a primitive pair of boots and a thicker tunic for herself. Kylo Ren's clothing was already fit for the walk. Before leaving, he did wrap his wounded arm tightly with a severed part of his robe and tied the cloth around his neck. There was an instinct to help him, but she swallowed it stubbornly.
She insisted on searching the ship for tools before they left, but there was none in sight.
Nothing could have prepared her for the cold outside. This was not like the wintery landscape on Starkiller base. Everywhere she looked there was white and the wind was strong and merciless.
The snow was knee deep and she stumbled and fell a couple of times as she followed his lead to the base he had spoken about. If his clothes had not made such a stark contrast to the surroundings, she might have lost him in the howling winds, throwing curtains of snow between them.
When they finally approached the foot of a mountain, she felt him use the force. Moments later, a huge door slid open with a metallic, scraping sound. She followed him inside and pulled the newly made tunic tighter around her. He closed the door, leaving them in pitch darkness. She ignited her lightsaber and saw his white face close to hers.
"Give me my weapon." He said.
"No."
"If I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead by now. We both need to search this place for what we need."
"Then stay close to me."
Rey regretted the words the moment they left her mouth.
She started to scan the surroundings one step at a time, listening intensely for any sounds. He was so close behind her, that she could feel his clothes brush against her back. Holding the lightsaber away from her eyes not to be blinded, she finally bumped into a much needed treasure.
"A main generator!" She said. "These things normally contain fuel that can last for centuries! If I can find the switches…"
There was a slight pull of her belt and a soaring sound. She spun around and put the lightsaber into battle position as his red, crackling blade was lit.
"Lower your weapon." He said. "Did you really think I would let you steal my lightsaber while still alive?"
"You lower your weapon!"
"Inspect the generator. I will hold the lightsaber close to its surface to give you sight."
"Not too close." She murmured.
"Calm down, scavenger. You are still of use to me."
She let her guard down only slightly, keeping him in the corner of her eye as she let her free hand wander over the icy metal.
"Over here!" She said.
The red blade was enough to see the control board. The generator itself was huge, twice her height, and as it came to life with a low hum, she jumped in excitement.
"Yes!"
Within moments, a number of round lamps installed into the walls lit up and revealed a huge hall that must have served as a docking bay. She turned to face Kylo Ren. There was a short nod from him and as she answered it, both their lightsabers were deactivated and placed in their belts.
The hangar was in a terrible state. There were no ships or vehicles inside, save for the left-overs from a ship that had exploded into a thousand pieces.
"The generator should bring heat to the facilities." She said. "And while it does, we have to look for food and water."
"The snow can be melted and digested by humans. There should be an installation of sorts in here, leading the melted snow directly into pipes."
She frowned.
"Do you know this place?"
"Not by personal experience."
"Did you… make this happen? The crash?"
He frowned back at her.
"Of course not."
"So why am I here? With you?"
She tuned into the force, trying to sneak her way into his thoughts.
"Do not do that." He warned, his voice bearing a note of the calm before a storm.
She sighed impatiently.
"Well?" She said. "Tell me!"
"Food and water first." He replied with a dismissive gesture.
There was an itch in her hands to strangle him. Instead she batted an eyebrow.
"Like I said."
They discovered the base in silence, not letting each other out of sight. They only found a few control rooms before the way further inside was blocked by huge stones. The equipment inside these rooms was destroyed, mostly from blasters by the looks of it.
"If I can repair one of these, I could send for a rescue team." She said, stopping by a large communication device.
"You are not going to send for your people."
"If you behave I might let you send for yours once I am gone."
He stepped up right behind her, his breath tingling on her ear.
"You will not leave this place on your own, Rey."
Silence hung in the air for seconds.
Then she stepped to the side and away from him.
"I'll search the storage rooms." She declared.
He followed closely behind her.
She shuddered from the raw cold. Most of the snow on her clothes had melted through the material and kept her skin chillingly damp. Her teeth clattered uncontrollably.
The storage rooms were mostly raked clean, save for one that had a few boxed food rations and a device connected to the wall with tap that turned out to produce water.
Rey let out a sigh of relief.
Food for at least thirty days. Twice as much if they cut the rations in half.
Kylo Ren went out of sight and reappeared quickly, holding a thick sleeping bag in his hands.
"I found this. You should strip and get into it."
"Excuse me?"
"Your clothes need to dry. I did not bring you along to let you die."
"I'll wait until I find new clothes."
"You are turning blue. There is no telling when and if we can reach the rest of the base."
"Where are you going to sleep?"
"There was only one sleeping bag, so the answer is obvious."
She opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off, his eyes flashing.
"Believe me, I'd rather spend the night with an angry rathtar, but as it turns out, you and I are the only source of heat in this place. Presuming the generator will provide a comfortable temperature, it will still take at least forty-eight hours before we notice a difference."
He shoved the sleeping bag into her hands.
Then he turned around abruptly and ignited his lightsaber, mauling the already wrecked computers outside the storage.
Rey stared.
The outburst was a short one. He stopped and deactivated his lightsaber, walking up to her with the same deceptive calm as before.
To her surprise, he took his robe off and handed it to her.
"Dry yourself with this. Let me know when you are done."
He went out of the storage room and shut the door.
Rey looked from the door to the sleeping bag and then to his robe. If it had been just a little less cold, if she had felt her feet, then she would have thrown everything back at him and started a scene that would have made his pale in comparison.
She stripped and wrapped the huge robe around her shaking body, winding the belt around her waist to make a primitive, long tunic. She massaged her feet until she could feel a small buzz in them. Then she crept into the sleeping bag and leaned against the wall.
The sleeping bag helped to shut the cold out. Not as much as desired, but enough to let her mind concentrate on other matters.
She was stuck on a hostile planet with a murderous maniac, one with whom she had a particular bone to pick. Why had he kidnapped her in the first place?
She gave the door two sharp knocks.
"I'm done!"
He entered and came to a halt right by her feet, towering over her.
"Now is the time for explanations." She said.
"Where is my robe?"
"I am wearing it. Get over it."
He kneeled in front of her to get in level with her face, his lips pressed into a thin line.
"What do you want, Rey?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your future. What are your plans for it?"
"How is that any of your business?"
"Be careful."
She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"You know about my plans. I am training to become a Jedi."
"That is your Master's wishes. What about your own?"
"Just give it to me straight."
"Join me."
She gaped at him.
"You cannot be serious."
"You have no knowledge of my side of the force." He said, his eyebrows knitting into a frown. "Yet, you act as if the choice someone else took for you is the only available path."
"It is to me."
"You can't know that."
"Is that why you took me with you? I am not interested! Are you going to kill me now?"
A wall of silent fury rose between them. He stood up again, gazing down at her with an air of superiority.
"I forget how young and inexperienced you are." He said. "Still, you are being particularly foolish about this."
Rey stumbled to her feet, still wrapped in the sleeping bag.
"I am the one being foolish? How can you even think about it, after all you have done? You have hurt and killed my friends and tried to kill me in the process. Give me even one reason to listen to a word you say."
"I did not try to kill you."
"Not true!"
"I needed you out of the way for a moment."
"While you murdered my friend!"
"Well, he is not dead, is he?"
"No, he is not." She said quietly.
A dark fire played in Ren's eyes. He took a step back and made a sweep with his healthy arm.
"Look at you!" He said. "All this power and potential and you would sell it out to anyone who shows you but a grain of interest."
She shook her head, but he was not finished.
"You are so starved for attention that even the simple mind of a defected, useless soldier would do, as long as he finds you desirable. He is nothing to you, Rey! Nothing!"
The muscles in her jaw tensed. She held a finger out to him in warning.
"I have heard enough!"
"There are no depths in his mind that can match yours", Ren continued, "no understanding of the force and all the threads that connects it, that you so clearly see. Still you harbor these… infantile dreams of a simple life with him, imagining him to be everything he is not."
Unzipping the sleeping bag, she threw it aside and marched out of the room, his robe fluttering around her legs. The icy floor was torture to her feet.
He gave her one final stab.
"You will end up the way you dread the most: Alone!"
She came to a halt and swallowed hard, before turning around.
"Well done." She said. "Right now, I cannot think of even one person that I loathe more than you. Any opening you had to sell your side of the story is closed. Satisfied?"
"You will be back soon." He replied.
"Why? Now I can walk freely among the evil computers that you defeated. You really showed them!"
Silence.
One sleeping bag. This had to be the worst day of her life.
She returned to the storage room after walking some of the anger off. Her feet were numb again. Tuning into the force had helped to regain balance, but seeing him made her reel inwardly.
He sat against the wall wrapped in the sleeping bag, much like she had. His clothes and boots lay in a heap beside him. He still wore a black, tight long-sleeved shirt, displaying the shape of his broad shoulders and muscular arms.
Did he wear that on purpose, to show off?
There was a holo book resting in his lap, displaying a strange symbol.
"So you are back." He said, not bothering to look up.
She stared at the holo book.
"Where did that come from?"
"I found it."
"You did not tell me."
"No."
He gave her a quick glance.
"Come." He said. "You might find this interesting."
Reluctantly, she took a step closer. The cold was insufferable.
He smirked.
"You will have to join me in here sooner or later."
He unzipped the sleeping bag and held it open. If only she could wipe the smirk from his face.
Rey sat down in it, trying and failing to get some private space. The only way they would both fit in there was pressed tightly together. She crossed her arms in protest as she leaned against him, secretly wincing from the pleasure of feeling his warm body. She had imagined him being cold as a snake.
His angry cry startled her.
"Your feet! Get them off me!"
"Not possible. Not enough space." She explained, her cheeks getting warm.
Maybe there was enough space. But his legs were perfect radiators for her frozen toes.
He writhed uncomfortably for a moment, before accepting his fate with silent curses.
"What is the book about?" She asked, with exaggerated interest.
He glared at her.
"Biographies of independent force users."
"Independent?"
Oh no. Too eagerly-sounding.
"Yes. Did your Master not tell you about them?"
Rey bit her tongue.
"We should find out how damaged the ship is and look for tools to fix it." She said.
"The snow storm needs to subside. And you need better clothes."
"I can make something out of the blankets once they're dry. With your robe added, it should suffice."
"My robe is not yours to re-model."
"Then we'll have to wait with the repairs on the ship, I guess."
He opened his mouth and shut it again.
"I brought you with me only because I knew you would not agree to a meeting." He said.
"You are absolutely right, I wouldn't."
"You need to explore your full potential, without limiting influences."
"So, you are not a limiting influence? You kidnapped me!"
"This is war, Rey. We each do what we have to."
"Some do more than called for." She muttered.
She closed her eyes, the familiar pain uncoiling and crashing in like a heavy wave. Han Solo, her new friend, her hope for a better life, standing on the bridge and pleading with his son.
Ren's presence was strong. He was not only a part of her memory, but inside it at this very moment. He saw her thoughts and for a second she could sense a greater pain, outside of herself.
They sat in silence for some time. Ren's eyes were on the holo book, but she could sense his thoughts drifting, turning away from the scene on the bridge, struggling to remain unmoved by the pain in his arm and head. Thinking about her.
"I am going to rest a while." He said. "You should too, unless you wish to leave the sleeping bag."
Rey sighed, but followed his movements as he lay down on the floor on his left side. Her eyelids kept drooping, so the idea was not all that bad. When the opportunity arose, she pressed more of her feet to his legs. He did not stop her. Instead he snuck an arm under her neck.
"Hey!" She exclaimed, grabbing his wrist to shove it away.
"There is not enough room to have it any other way!" He snapped.
She snorted, but let his wrist go.
The other arm moved to embrace her.
"Hey!"
"It's broken! I will take the space I need or you can move your feet!"
She did not talk back.
Ren closed the last inch between them by scuffing his body close against hers.
They lay pressed together and no part of him escaped her. His warm chest and abdomen against her back, his thighs against hers and his... private parts… against her buttocks. Even his mouth was so close she could feel it touch the back of her head.
His hand slowly uncurled and spread out on her upper arm. Her skin prickled.
Resting this close to someone was not at all unpleasant. If only he had been anybody else in the whole galaxy. Finn should be the one to experience this with. Why had they never tried it? There were so many possibilities other than a shy kiss.
For now, the heat from Ren would have to do and she intended to use it for her comfort. He owed her at least that much.
A slight move he made woke her up. She was a light sleeper by habit and his snoring did not help much.
His lightsaber had slipped down from his belt and pushed annoyingly hard against the small of her back. She opened her eyes just barely. Her gaze fell on his hand resting on the floor, belonging to the arm under her head. His fingers gripped the lightsaber loosely, ready to engage in battle the moment he woke up.
Rey held her own weapon in the exact same position, her hand lying close to his. She had slept that way with her staff countless times. But if his lightsaber was there…
…then what…
Her eyes opened wide. Before she could stop herself she panicked, turned and punched him in the face.
