After Ten Days

Kylo Ren was sitting at his desk in his quarters when a familiar ripple signaled a bond interaction was going to start. His surroundings changed from the murky, dim lighting of the Finalizer to a colorful sunset of a planet he couldn't pin point. He scanned the view and noticed her right away. She looked relaxed sitting on the edge of the river bank with her feet inside the water splashing away. She dimpled as she closed her eyes letting the sun touch her cheeks.

He could've just watched her like this until the Force stole him away. Instead, Rey turned to his direction where he stood underneath a tree and raised her eyebrow.

"How long have you been here for?" Her face lost all of the joy she had earlier. Replaced with wariness.

He slowly made my his way to her. This was the first time he's seen her since she closed the door on him back on Crait. He didn't recall had long it had been; all the days blend into one since then. He looked down at her as he stood on the other side of the river.

"Not long." He still had no idea how to control his feelings whenever she was around. He was trying to stay calm and not let his whirlwind of emotions take over.

"Are you enjoying being Supreme Leader, Kylo? Is it all you wanted it to be?" she asked not making eye contact

"You would be able to know if you would've joined me…" he replied sarcastically. If he were to be honest with himself he didn't know exactly know what he was doing with The First Order. He actually didn't have any intentions on becoming Supreme Leader….it just happened. The sting of her once again rejecting his offer was still there but he pushed it aside. He didn't want to go through this with her.

She looked straight at him and glared; "You know that I would never join the dark side."

It was Kylo's turn to raise his eyebrow; " I didn't offer to teach you the dark side, I offered you the first time to teach you the way of the force and secondly I said we could establish a New Order. No sides." Realization dawned on him as to why she was so quick to reject him on both occasions. She had made the assumption that he would turn her dark when that was the furthest from the truth. His intentions were actually honorable. Which is why he still didn't understand why she ran from him.

Rey's face turned thoughtful and then nodded. 'You're right."

Kylo was shocked to hear her say it. He looked away from her questioning stare and looked at the grassy hills. He so desperately wanted to extend the invitation again to her with intentions clear but he knew that she would reject him. Again. And this time he couldn't blame her. Now that he was Supreme Leader he was lost as to how to proceed. Right now the First Order was recovering from the massive loss they endured from their past battles from the Resistance.

"Hux is basically running the show right now." He mumbled.

There was an emotion on her face that he didn't want to see. The one of pity. He took a few steps back from her. He could take anything from her but not that look she was giving him. He looked away from her and was about to turn around and walk away from her when she called his name.

"Ben!"

He was reluctant to look at her face and instead looked at her shoulder. He so desperately wanted the bond to close now but of course it didn't.

"Are you okay? Will you be ok? You know you can always come back your mom misses you!" At the mention of his mother he looked at her. Through their bond he could feel strands of sympathy laced with …compassion.

He really looked at her for the first time and took in every detail. She had her hair in her three buns, her build still looked strong. But what he really wanted to store in his memory was the current color of her eyes. He knew they were hazel but they shifted color. Currently they were the shade of melted gold. Those eyes…

And with that he turned around and walked away hoping the force would take pity on him and take him away from here and Rey.

Rey had come out of the 'fresher and was entering her room getting ready to get some sleep. She placed her towel down by the small window and grabbed her hair brush. She wandered towards her bed and sat there staring at the wall.

Her and the remaining members of the Resistance jumped from one location to another for the past 10 days. She stopped asking where they were after the first two times. She no longer was piloting the Falcon and let Poe and Chewie take care of it since there were so many pilots on board it didn't matter who piloted it.

She did have to admit though, there was another reason why she let herself become slightly detached from the Resistance. Since her last encounter with…Kylo while they were evacuating on Crait it dawned on her that she still had this connection with him. To make it worse she didn't know when the connection would physically connect them. Clearly Snoke didn't do this that much was certain. She didn't know much about the force but even she knew that if he was indeed responsible for this it would've ended with his death.

No, this was something else. And since she didn't know what it was and how it worked that meant that she was a liability to the Resistance. She didn't know when and where Kylo would show up and if he could learn something of them simply by showing up at the right time. So no, she wasn't exactly eager to know all the detailed information as to the plans for the Resistance. She had to leave. That much she knew. She had an inkling to where she should go and study and learn the ways of the force.

She saw his resting figure as she walked closer to his small bed. She assumed these were his quarters on his ship as she looked around and it made her shiver. So dim, dark and cold it made her skin crawl. She didn't know exactly how she ended up here but clearly he wasn't aware of her presence.

She knelt next to him and watched him sleep. He had fallen asleep with his usual attire except that he had removed his usual black long sleeved tunic and was only wearing his undershirt. There was something really calming and soothing about listening to the even patterns of his breathing and watching his usually tense face look more relaxed.

His hair had definitely grown out and it covered majority of his face. Rey had to hold back the instinct to touch it and feel it. It always looked so shiny and soft. She remembered how he looked the first time she actually saw the man behind the mask. It surprised her how young he appeared and she didn't know why he had to wear that mask.

Her gaze shifted from his resting face and disheveled hair to his neck. He had a beauty mark there that called her attention. She took in the details of his strong and elegant neck. How can a neck be elegant? She leaned in closer so curious to see how this enigma of a man smelled like.

She wasn't disappointed. His scent was a mixture of masculinity and …nature. It reminded her of the river she was at when she had last seen him. She took a deep breath and let the scent overwhelm her. She placed a small kiss on his neck by his beauty mark she looked up at his face to make sure he was still asleep. He had moved his head slightly towards her and she looked at his full lips. She didn't know why but she couldn't stop herself from planting a light kiss.

The moment their lips touched something in her roared to life. She could actually see their bond. It was bright interwoven with so many colors some which she hasn't seen in the real world. She reached out to skim it and felt how silky it was in texture. She pushed a little against it to see what was in the other side and she felt him. Ben.

She can feel what she can assume were his emotions: darkness, confusion, anger, exhaustion, and most painfully: lonelines..but also there were glimpses of hope. There was light inside of him not only can she see it but she can feel it in him. He wasn't gone completely.

As she was going to push a little further into their bond she felt pressure against her own lips. She opened her eyes in shock and pulled away and saw him looking at her, confused.

"Rey?"