Rey scowled at the skyline through the eyes of the Falcon. The partitioned panes bathed in an icy rain that pattered against the ship. She was confident navigating through asteroid fields, fiery mines, and the dusty sand of her home planet.

Yet, this stilled her as she glowered at the flickering comlink. It had been idiotic for her to leave the base alone, but she was too headstrong and decidedly left despite Leia's displeasure.

If she was to be honest, let alone honest with herself, this was a much needed retreat from the arms of war.

She'd seen her face, or a likeness of her, splayed across the holo-broadcasts on many propagandist channels. It wasn't a surprise that she had the weight of the Resistance upon her shoulders.

And it seemed that more and more girls, most from back-water planets, and crawled out of their dune pits to join. It made her stomach lurch. They had little to nothing, just like her. For a moment, Rey wondered if the clamor would die down if they knew what was she was really doing, or if she would be excommunicated all together.

Her clammy hands slid through her hair. It was longer now, and her scars multiplied. They were reminders that hope came with a price, and a bounty and she wasn't privy to the latter.

Her dark eyes watched the bright lights in the cockpit flicker as the old ship's wiring faltered. It was almost like it spoke to her, warning her of the foreboding presence that lurked outside of its metal walls.

Outside, there was no protection. Yet, Rey was resolute as she felt the pull on the bond she shared with Kylo Ren. She couldn't hide from the urgency of it, or the heaviness of it in the back of her mind. It merely loomed in the recesses until he chose to push through and cement her fears.

Every dream was heavy with his influence. She saw deep into the parts of him that he didn't know that still connected him to his past self - to Ben Solo.

She hated those humanizing parts. Rey would have rather gone on suffering his existence as a monster than seeing through his mask. She wore her own. It was one that he saw through just as easily when her own eyes deceived her.

Her eyes caught her reflection in the windshield and she glared at the darkness lurking beneath the warm tone of her skin. She looked as much like herself as she always had, save for the ghostly transparency of rain.

Once upon a time she had longed for the cold, longed for the rain, longed for the warmth of a body against her own. The intoxicating thrum that played its familiar tune rippled through her body, her space, her consciousness.

It was a reminder that he was closer than she realized. He had surely followed the Falcon. Her hand idled on the hilt of the reconstructed saber in protest.

Kylo Ren would not set foot aboard the Falcon under any other circumstance; that much was sure. The girl felt every hair stand on end and her mouth ran drier than the excruciating Jakku air. She wasn't exactly surprised that he had come. Every opportunity to tempt her to the darkness had become a ritual in itself.

Every system, every planet, every large celestial expanse was never far enough away, or close enough to him. She dared him, coaxed him, spat in his face.

There was little to know reason that he should even show her compassion. Nor should she reciprocate the action, for that matter.

Rey sank within herself as she remembered the embers of The Supremacy. The vibrant reds becoming a dizzying memory she couldn't escape. Kylo felt it, surely.

She didn't muster courage to call him Ben.

Ben was a sacred name. She had let it slip off her tongue like an incantation to beguile him, ease him, force him back to the light. Yet, it ended with his Master in slivers on the floor. She had never known want like she had in the aftermath of that room.

It felt incredibly small with the shrouds of red armor spilt across the floor as he walked to her, begging for an absolution she could not give him. She couldn't dream of giving in to his will.

Yet, here she was alone. Half terrified, half confident, and a little bit yearning. On a planet that had too many rigids, too much rain, too much of everything she hated - Rey waited for him.

Exhaling, she felt everything go silent. There was nothingness that fluctuated around her before his mechanical voice bellowed inside of her skull. It was deep, like she had remembered.

Her blood teemed within shellshocked veins. It was like all of her molecules bled into his when their bond began to bloom.

"I see that you're still piloting Han Solo's ship. It seems befitting that you would refuse to purchase your own, Scavenger."

Rey bit her lip so hard that she tasted the faintest hint of copper. She was half disgusted that she even allowed herself to be vulernable to his condescending tone.

"I find it appropriate that you would rather scold me than speak to me as your equal." Rey retorted, knowing that he knew this to be a souring truth. His ego did, too.

She could almost feel his ire as the creature stood outside of the ship. His newly built helmet was clattering with the icy rain. He wanted to burn the ship, and its memories to the earth as he glared in dismay.

"You intended to come here alone, did you not?"

Kylo asked in earnest. His own curiosity bending his will to board the vessel. He glanced to the hull, noticing the pale light it emitted. He felt like a moth hovering around the light that it loved; a hubris of his own shortcomings.

"I know that you would have been disappointed had I had anyone to see you sniveling like a child right now. You came to me this time."

Rey raised in the seat, eyes bleary with nervousness as she waited for the beast to round the ship. She was safe, she reminded herself. He could do a great many things to her, but she knew he would not kill her.

He had the opportunity in the months prior and didn't. He had many in the years leading up to this, and the result was the same. He couldn't. It was the only card she had left to play.

It was a fixation of hers now. It was the upper hand in a dirty game of holo-chess and she was overtaking all of his moves with one fail-swoop.

He appeared to her quickly, looking like a Spector. He was drenched, seemingly uncaring - at least the bond felt indifferent.

It was the first time she had laid her own eyes on him in months. He was no longer an apparition that slithered throughout her days and sleepless nights in the barracks.

He was solid. He was real. He was haunting her from outside of the window as the night rolled in. Kylo easily blended beneath the rocky formations and the winding trees that had long since expired.

The sheen of his helmet shined in the Falcon's light as a smirk curled on her lips. The darkness inside of her roiled and quaked as she rose to her feet, pressing her hands upon the glass.

She looked down upon him, uncertain of the twinge of rage that swelled between them. It stemmed from him. Yet, he was the prey. He stood in the elements half-hoping that she would submit and come to him.

Rey balked. She refused. "Come aboard the ship." She said loudly. They both knew exactly why he was here.

There was a moment of clarity that rippled through them as she fumbled with the controls. The hatch whirred and creaked as it opened, releasing steam as it hit the waterlogged ground.

She rounded the ship with ease, heading down to the ramp. A blanket draped around her as she found his slow pace to be daunting. Soon, he stood tall before her. His cloak hanging against his wet body.

It was an image she knew well from the times he spent with her in the realm they shared. It was an ugly place wrought with even uglier thoughts. They were one there.

The girl swallowed, unabashedly eager to have his boots hit the ramp.

"Why do you have to be so kriffing stubborn?" Rey glowered, furrowing her brows in displeasure.

She could read his expression through his mask.

"You're one to talk about being insuborniate, Little Bird." Kylo rumbled. His disembodied voice sounded like blaster-fire richocheting inside of her head. A shiver ran down her spine as his deep timbre cut through the quiet.

Conflict was at the forefront of her emotional palette. She could feel his inner turmoil with such ease that she almost couldn't bear it. Rey let her eyes flicker over him for a moment before turning away.

"Suit yourself. You can't stop running from this." She paused and took in a deep breath, "Ben."

Kylo snapped his head. His fingers twisted beneath his gloves as he blindly chased after her. For such a tactically savvy man, he was easy to goad into doing what she wanted.

By the same she made it back to the cockpit, the thunderous sound of his footsteps clanking against the panels made her feel smug. She fondled the controls to close the ramp and plopped down in the captain's seat, swiveling around to see Ren.

His chest rose and fell with an alarming pace. She felt panic beseige the bond and her own fingers checked her pulse. It escalated as she exhaled, finding him to be wrought with anxiousness.

The part he feared the most was that the day he set foot aboard this ship, that he would be reminded of exactly who he was.

Rey knew better than anyone that fear hung upon him like the moons in the night.

"I'm proud of you." Rey said with a snide tone.

Kylo released the mechanism on his helmet. It hissed as he removed it, revealing his familiar pale face. It was a little older, scarred and covered with dark facial hair. Rey tensed at the sight of him, and crossed her legs unknowingly.

"You're a terrible con, Rey. For someone who spent so much time rummaging for trash and sweet talking your way into more credits, you certainly have no tact." Ren said softly, holding his helmet against his side.

Rey's eyes drifted towards it. It had been a while since she had seen him in one. He was close enough that she could reach out and press the pads of her fingers across the metal. It made her shudder. It was absolutely frigid. She could only imagine how cold he was in his damp robes.

"You still came to me and you boarded the ship. I can't be that terrible." She said, admiring his elongated features as he pulled at the collar of his cloak.

His anger seemed to have subsided, as his eyes wandered around the vibrant colors of the control panel. Everything was exactly as he had remembered it, and it made the very existence of this ship seem less damning.

"I will not be Ben Solo." He swallowed, clenching his jaw as he watch the constellation of freckles on Rey's face burst with color. " Not for you. Not for my mother. Not for this godforsaken memory, for that matter."

Rey let her eyes meet his.

"You want to be Kylo Ren? Supreme Leader?"

Something raged inside of her akin to Ren's emotions. Her chest tightened and her body cried from the tension. They both knew why he came.

He didn't come for the resolution. He wasn't there for closure. Kylo Ren tossed the helmet to the floor. Rey held her breath for a moment as he descended upon her. His hands caged her in the chair, hands locked around its arms as she challenged him as she did the first time they met.

The hunger in her eyes bled into him. He didn't care about the cold clothes clinging to his body, or the long hair falling his face. "Say it again."

"Supreme Leader Kylo Ren." Every syllable was staccato, purposeful. Rey felt her abdomen tighten as she felt his breath upon her face.

She inspected his scar and the way his eyes gleaned with urgency. "Does that make you feel like you're better than me, Kylo? Do you want me to bow to you?"

Kylo leaned close enough that she could almost feel his mouth on hers. The chill from his weathered skin permeated against the slopes of her cheeks. She shivered at the fragmented contact and narrowed her eyes as his lip twisted.

"If you knew what was good for you, you would be inclined to do so." Ren hissed, inspecting the new scar upon the girl's face. It mirrored his own. It was a marking that partitioned the left side of her face, matching the taut skin upon her shoulder.

The image of that night fluttered between them and he nearly flinched as he recalled the blood oozing from the fiery-hot slice of skin that glistened beneath the embers. It was still all too vivid, and he swallowed.

"I bow to no man." Rey retorted. Her features taunting a softness that angered him. He wanted to slap it off her face. Instead, the cool of his gloved had moved to her jaw. It clenched hard enough to be firm, but didn't aim to harm her.

She bridged her teeth, hissing at him as though he were a predator. Being prey was on her to do list.

"A scavenger never learns manners, I see. I bet you still scour the floor for your food." Ren countered, pulling her face to look him in the eye.

The bond between them flickered with reds, yellows, golden flecks of matter before it illuminated completely.

It made her breath stagger. "You chase me like I chase scraps. Do you really think you're not the one starving?"

That feeling was there again. It was carnivorous. It ate her alive and then spat her back out only to recycle its consuming. It bore its teeth, sending shock waves through her diminutive frame.

It was like being drunk on the finest of brandy from the rich districts of the Inner Rim. Ren felt it, too. It was mutual. A glaze settling over his eyes made his movements hazy, haphazard as he knelt closer to her. His grip on her jaw lazy, and his fingers unsteady.

"I'll be damned if I ever become starved enough to need you."

A shudder rippled through him as he felt her teeth beneath the leather glove. His finger ran along the bottom row, inspecting each ridge of the hard terrain. His own jaw tensed, knowing he had delved too deep already.

Those honey-colored eyes dilated as she parted her lips more. It was involuntary. She hated how he made her feel.

Her tongue tasted the smooth leather. She pressed it in a probing motion over his finger, keeping her eyes locked with his. The darkness in them as evident in her as the innocence in his.

"I never offered you portions."

The girl pressed against their linked minds. Her hands gripped to her own knees, finding solace in the rapt beat of her own pulse.

"But I am very starved."

Ren leaned back slightly. He abhorred her disobienece and longed for a day she would listen and bend to his will. This dance between their own conflict had waxed and waned like the moon.

Every time he followed her, she swallowed him within her own darkness and his light seemed to burn brightly within him.

He cursed Ben.

"You denied me this many times, Rey. What makes you think that you can swallow what's left of my soul now?"

He asked her, feeling her teeth pull and tug to remove the black glove. After she removed it, she slid it on her own hand. It flexed before her and she gently placed it upon his strong jaw.

"I don't know, Ben." Rey teased. Her own mouth working against the thoughts blurring through their bond. She sounded strange speaking alongside it.

"That name is as poisonous as lies you tell." Ren smirked. It was reminiscent of his father. They both knew it. His noxious amusement was just one of his puzzle pieces. It created a portion of Kylo Ren.

"You could be anywhere in the galaxy, but you're right here. You're letting the Resistance think that you're on this mission, or whatever lie you told them. Yet, here you sit beneath me. Doesn't that make you feel like a liar?"

His voice rumbled like the vastness of an imploding star. She was fragmented as awareness besieged her. It gripped her mind and opened her eyes to the hunger in Ren's eyes. She had been so sure of herself, but now she wasn't positive that she could survive this.

His words hurt more than the Praetorian Guard's blade, or the loneliness she felt as a child. The disappointment of looking into his Mother's face and knowing that she had been alone with him. The look on Finn's hopeful face when he praised her for all of her efforts came crashed down like the shared image of Luke's Jedi Temple.

She wanted to scream, but found her body reclined in the captain's seat - beyond aware of the closeness of his body and her actions.

"I-I am doing my part in all of this. You cannot scold me for having my own path." Rey stammered, clenching the discarded glove in her hands as he scoffed.

"Blame it on the Force. Blame it on the will of it, if you choose. Sweetheart, that doesn't change that you are just as much of a monster as me. You're just a pretty little thing that can get away with murder." His lips crushed against her forehead, burning her with the heat of his saliva.

No matter how far into the darkness he fell, he never could shake Ben from his identity. Despite his honesty, the brutality of was softened by the gentleness of his actions.

Rey stiffened. She looked away, wishing she had stayed put and let her better judgment guide her. She was terrible at making good decisions.

"So, tell me oh powerful and supreme leader, do your men know that you're just as much of a traitor as I am?" Rey goaded him.

That same itch residing in the pits of her soul plagued her as he still hunched over her. His bare hand had gripped at the head of the chair, behind the girl's.

His eyes cast a half-lidded stare upon her. "My business is my own." The comlink buzzed and blipped from her satchel. Force grabbing it, he held it in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Rey whined, thrashing her hands trying to grab it. Her heart pounded harder. She felt sick. "You wouldn't dare."

Ren let out chortle as he flicked his fingers gently over the comlink. A grin spread over his face. "Wouldn't you?"

Rey felt frozen. All of her safety went flying like the debris of the Supremacy if he opened the communication. She would be forced to lie. "You're an awful man. You'll always be the same creature that hunted me. It's disgusting."

Her daunting expression ate at him as a rumble emitted from his chest. He could smell the fear on her. It was part of the game he loved, but wanted to stamp the fear out like the dirt beneath his feet.

"Is that why you're trembling?" Ren leaned close to her ear, whispering softly. "Are you that afraid of not being their answer? Or is it because you'll be alone?"

"I am definitely not trembling."

Rey closed her eyes. The thickness of their bond cut through her. It was like a siren. It cried to her as the faintest touch of his skin against her set her afire.

"I told Skywalker I would destroy you." Ren swallowed, gripping the back of her loose hair. He felt her stiffen beneath his touch. "Yet, I have not. You're mouthier than the Sarlacc."

Rey parted her eyes, staring into the crook of his still-soaked shoulder. " And I'll eat you whole if you let me."

Her hands gripped to the fabric sealed to his skin. She had craved this. She could feel his muscles tense beneath his uniform and the comlink fell to the floor. He wouldn't dare.

"Get on your knees, Scavenger." Ren ordered, finding the girl's eyes boring through him. She was trying to pull anything she could from the corners of his mind. He was blocking the filth from her and as she slithered past him.

Rey disobeyed and pushed him into the cooridoor. "I told you I will not bow to you." She watched him falter, balancing himself with his bare hand.

"You're such an insolent-" An inward breath hissed between his teeth.

Rey stalked him, standing before him with her hands blocking the cockpit. "Stop being a coward and take what you came for or get off my ship."

Ren glared violently at her. She countered him, watching, waiting for his mouth to crush hers. Ben was gentle. Kylo, a sickening pleasure, was not.

Waiting a moment too long, Rey shook her head. " Go then! You have no right to waste my -"

Her back was slammed forcefully into the hallway, knocking loose items from the overhead compartments. She gasped as all of the air was sucked out of her lungs. Large hands pinned her off the ground by the shoulders.

His forehead pressed against hers; his skin still cold. It felt like electricity scorching every inch of skin. "I assume this is what you wanted? Why do you want me to torture you, Rey?" His fingers crept up her chin and under the fold of her lips.

A gasp ripped from her throat as his body pressed firmly into hers. He was so much larger than her she always felt as though she would be crushed. She wrapped her hands over his as they moved to her throat.

She loved it. She hated admitting it.

A strangled cry betrayed her as his mouth cast across hers. She wanted to reciprocate but was let go. The few inches to the ground felt like thousands of feet.

Her hands wove into his hair when she found stability. He felt like he was in orbit, suffering from the Force of her gravity. It pulled him under and he swam her wake.

Treason was what this was.

Every movement sent his nerves into a frenzy. He couldn't feel complete without this feeling. She rocked against him in a forgetful, inelegant dance as her small hands struggled to strip him of his clothing.

The cold, wet garb was all but forgotten on the floor. Her robes discarded themselves alongside his as he fought for dominance. Each step strained the warped metal floor as their bodies slide across the old walls.

It was a memory within a memory that fell somewhere within the midst of their bond.

Han Solo seduced the Princess of Alderaan in the walls of this gilded ship. He became a legend and was a father to an equally notorious son. Rey scavenged vessels like these. They were damaged, broken, filled with treasures that would feed her.

Ben fed her now. He was the treasure she found in the Falcon's winding halls. She seduced the Prince and he had gone mad because of it.

Kylo Ren felt these memories bleeding through the hanging wires and corroded electrical panels as his fingers clawed at Rey's bare skin. Unwinding the repressive binding around her breasts, she panted.

Her bottom was cold against the worn-out Holochess table as she stared through a thatch of loose curls that hung about her face. It was flush, rosy like the wet shine on her lips.

"Sweetheart, this is my ship." He huffed, pressing his hot mouth against her throat as she gripped his thick hips. He seemed so much larger when his body was exposed.

The hazy lounge lighting cast shadows along the contours of his face. She saw his mother, his father, and all of the pieces of himself - the scars, the faint freckles, and the dark beauty marks he hated.

"I wouldn't have known it was yours. You realize this is the first time you've set foot inside of it, don't you?" Rey hummed, pulling at him until she ran her parted mouth along the slope of his stomach.

Ren hissed, taking her humble breast into his gloved hand. The chill of the leather sent shivers down the ladder of her spine. The girl straightened.

"Only because I was forced to do so. I can take it if I want. You know that." Ren smirked recalling the Scavenger strapped to his interogation chair. It made him harder than he already was.

This body could take all it wanted. Rey had tried to be with another man. She'd tried to be with a woman in her squadron. She'd tried to be on her own.

Yet she always wound up spitting out filthy words and living out the fervent dreams she shared with Kylo Ren. Tonight she wasn't sure which half of him was more present.

Anticipating Ren was what fueled the excursion. Yet as she nipped at his flesh, tracing her tongue down the valley of his hips, she was almost certain it was Ben.

The strangled cry that erupted from his lips as she slowly inched him into her mouth, sucking his smooth head gently, was telltale enough. Kylo shoved her down his shaft. Ben allowed her to take advantage of their time.

Both parts of him excited her. She was wetter now, thinking back to his hands climbing her throat in the hallway. She moaned against his flesh as he thrust into her mouth slowly.

The masculine scent filling her senses was uniquely his. His hand twisted through her hair as his flavour enveloped her. She wanted more. He could give it to her, but wouldn't.

This was how it always ended.

He would come. She would cry on her way back to the base like the forgotten child she was; always yearning for more.

The trepidation crawled through her like the way he moved her body. It was pulled away to be inspected by those hungry eyes. The body she thought she knew betrayed her and bent to his will. She was overthrown on her pedestal and found herself compartmentalized.

Knees scraped against the Holochess table while her breasts grazed the rounded edges. She wanted him inside of her. Tasting him on her lips was just a sample of what he could do to her small body.

Her heart thundered so loudly in her ears that the sensation reverberated between them. Ben leaned over her, his cock pressed into her bottom as she stared at the leather lounger as his weight smothered her. His lips dragged across the small of her back, igniting a fire in each place they connected.

He smirked against her. He relished this. These rendezvous were only for him. She may not have bowed, but the girl was malleable and would bend. She was a "fiery spit of hope" afterall.

Rey looked over her shoulder at the scars lining his naked chest - beaded with sweat and cool moisture. He felt hot and cold like a messenger of death. She was mesmerized by him entirely.

She felt the smoothness of his length pressed against her entrance, beguiling him with a sea of arousal that slicked her thighs. She was more than ready to feast upon him. Starving was no longer an option.

Her own breathless voice was strangled by the wanton of her own desires. It choked her as she let out a whine - a miserably desperate resolve that only he knew. It was a secret she would bury inside of her, just like the hardened cock that teased the edges of her opening.

It would only take one swift stroke and she would be full. Instead, Rey felt him move away. She almost begged for contact, which she would have been alarmingly angry with herself for doing.

Yet as soon as she opened her mouth, she felt his smother her most sensitive parts. His hands clenched into the fatty curves of her bottom, bracing himself against her as his tongue explored her caverns.

She screamed, biting her lip as her hands crawled along the edges of the holo-chess table. Her knees quivered. Holding herself steady became increasingly hard as his mouth moved against her bundle of nerves.

"You taste better when you're angry."

Ren teased through their bond. It was something he gleefully indulged. It embarrassed her when he spoke to her like this.

"I want you to come for me. I need to drink you until there isn't anything left. When I fuck you, I want you all over me."

Rey glanced back at him as he slowly dragged his tongue across her folds. She let out a pitiful cry as she saw how desperately he ate her.

"I want to come on you. I need it now, Ben. Please give it to me. I need you to be inside of me." She begged. Their bond was cruel. She didn't have to see his face to know how pleased he was.

The feeling of his body raising was enough. His large hands gripped her hips, lifting her off her knees for a moment as he adjusted himself.

One hand pressed against the small of her back.

"I've dreamt about this for countless nights. You do terrible things to me, Scavenger." Ren whispered. Rey breathed heavily as she felt him insert himself. She felt each muscle stretch to acomodate him, eliciting a painfully aware gasp.

She clenched her walls around his length, leaving him hunched over her body. The tremors already quaked his thighs as her slick folds scorched him.

Rey wriggled her bottom until she felt the coarse dark hair stall her against his pubic mound. She nearly let out a scream when he slowly pulled out of her, still pressing her against the table. The cold metal brushed against her nipples, making her writhe harder against the growing strength of his thrusts.

It was maddening in itself that she waited so long for him. She would chase him to the ends of the galaxy if he would love her like this, make her body weak with each roll of his hips. It was an ache that surged in her like a hunger that was beyond what she had known. A sensation like this was something she dreamed about.

Rey didn't bow, but she was always begging on her knees for him. He worshipped her in ways that she reciprocated and yearned to look him in the eye. Their bond radiated in a frequency that felt like the entirety of the galaxy dying and expanding whenever he was buried deep within her walls.

She couldn't remember how many times she cried his name, or exactly when he kissed her back and moaned hers in his own deep timbre. His fingers laced atop of hers. His thrusts became erratic, sloppy in comparison to each precise blow.

Ren nipped at the back of her neck, whispering his wants. The girl arched into him, pleading to kiss his plush lips. In a swift motion, he slid an arm around her, flipping her over with him as he fell to the floor.

Her hips swayed awkwardly across him. It had never been anything more, or anything less. It simply was a fact about themselves, despite the facades, that they had been as green as the grass on Ahch-to.

Their exploration ended in a rushing current of electricity that balled in the it of Rey's abdomen. It burned as it coiled releasing a rush of her own orgasm to shock her veins as his spilled into her. She silently gasped, latching her hands upon his shoulders.

Ren gripped the small of her back, pressing her as close as their bodies allowed. Everything between them surged and drowned them somewhere within the confines of their bond. It howled with a voracious hunger.

It would never be satiated.

It thrummed like it had in the forest; a melody only they knew and could feel as it presented itself in an array of color before their eyes.

As Rey slumped against him and the darkness within her ebbed, she breathed raggedly against his flush skin. Ben's fingers wound in her hair, soothing the aches in her bones.

His lips creased across her forehead, still slick with sweat. The length of his arms guarded her as she slid off of his twitching member, and relished in his warmth and the idea of his closeness.

It was something she rarely felt she deserved. But she knew he did not deserve her. The Force seemed to make them collide and wash away the sins they both committed.

As Ben let his eyes skim the dimly lit room, he absorbed the presence of his life before Kylo Ren. It had been a bad idea to board the ship. He knew as much.

Rey clung to him like a second skin as he looked back at her flush face. This was the first time he had felt relaxed enough to merely exist.

"How long do you have before they need you?" He asked, idly brushing her cheek.

"I should have already been back." She closed her eyes. "I should never have been here."

"That makes both of us."

"Ben, I hate the way you do this to me. I can't be with you." Rey said so softly he wasn't sure if it was her voice, or the one he heard in his head.

He pulled her tighter, "I know, sweetheart. I'll come back for you. I promise. I always do."

Ben held her there, covering her small body with the knit blanket from the lounger. It would keep her warm long after he was gone. It broke his heart in a way that he had never known was possible.

He smirked at how appropriate it was that beneath everything, she was a scavenger. He was just another broken piece of wreckage that needed repairing.

Soon after, he kissed her, left with an empty threat as he always did - it was an incentive of the Supreme Leader, of course. She spouted one back as she watched him dress and and leave.

She lay in the floor for a while, holding onto the hope she would see him again. Idly, Rey made her way to the cockpit, still cloaked by his parting gift.

On the floor rested the broken Comm. She smirked as she went to retrieve it. Yet, his forgotten helmet sat at the doorway. She picked up and sat in the captain's chair, staring into the visor as though it was Ben's own face.

She wasn't afraid of him.

Her fingers traced the metal before she put it on her own head to see through his eyes. It was incredibly lonely inside. She could feel the pressure he felt and she frowned.

As she removed it and sat it in the seat next to her, it made her feel less alone as she prepared for her journey back to the base. It was all she had of him to enjoy, even though it was the darkest parts of him.

Rey decided she would keep it safe as excuse to see him. Until then, she had finally stolen the mask off of Kylo Ren.

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