Emancipation

Rey had been in a light doze when the unmistakable voice of Unkar Plutt from the corridor outside her room pulled her fully awake.

How was it he had found her already? She'd been here barely two days! She got up on silent feet, stuffing her few belongings into her backpack, except her machete, thankful that she had left the lights off in her room, perhaps they believed she was out and were waiting for her to return.

She carefully pulled on her soft boots last, and drew the open the sash window as quietly as she could. But it wasn't quietly enough. "Sunshine? You in there pretty girl?"

Rey's stomach flipped, nausea churning at his pet name for her. There were sounds of him and whoever was with him forcing the door. At least the door chain would delay them somewhat.

Rey slipped out the window, took a deep breath and gripping her machete tightly, jumped down into the skip below her window.

She had chosen this room on purpose, it was prudent to always have a second or even a third way out. She heard the door to her room splinter as she landed. It knocked the breath from her for a moment, then she was moving, scrambling out of the skip just as another body followed her out the window, she turned, slashing as whoever it was (it wouldn't be Plutt) tried to right themselves. They fell back with a snarl and she fled on trembling legs, mindful of the shouts and footsteps behind her.

She didn't know this town, didn't know where she was heading, plans would have to come later, once she lost her pursuers.

As she rounded a corner, she thudded into someone, a solid wall of muscle, arms grabbed her, but only to steady her, an unfamiliar voice said, "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

He wasn't one of them, his hands let her go, "Sorry!" She automatically said over her shoulder as she ran past him, into the night.

Kylo was having a midnight walk to try and help him sleep when a girl carrying a machete of all things ran straight into him.

She was all tousled hair and wide eyes, never actually looking at him as she ran off, throwing an apology over her shoulder as she went.

He was just blinking to himself in surprise when two men came running past him, one shouted "She went this way!" To the other and they followed after her, one of the men held a long knife, the other carried a baseball bat. Kylo felt sudden fear, for the girl, not himself. He was just about to follow them when two more went jogging past him, to his horror the large one was carrying what looked like a BDSM slave collar and handcuffs.

Four guys against a slip of a girl, even if she was carrying a machete. He didn't like those odds. Of course, he could choose to tip the scales. He'd never considered himself a good man, let alone a knight in shining armour, but this was not something he could let go. He followed quietly after them, texting an SOS to Phasma and Hux to meet him, luckily their house was just a few blocks from here, and they had weapons of their own.

The men had cornered the girl in a dead end alley, he moved silently up so he could hear what they were saying to her before making himself known.

The girl had dropped her backpack behind her and was settled into a practiced defensive crouch, her eyes were afraid but determined in a tanned, pretty face. She was slender, perhaps too much so, her body tense as she waited for the others to make the first move.

"Sunshine, be reasonable, you knew this day would come. Have I not been good to you since your mother left you with me?" It was the large man who spoke, his hands almost caressing the collar in his hands. "I own you, I've waited long enough."

Kylo watched in disgust as the girl's whole body rippled in a shudder, she gripped her machete in tight fingers, "No one owns me. I will die before I let you put your hands on me."

The other three men were moving slowly towards her, wielding the long knife, baseball bat and what turned out to be a whip. A whip? The one with the whip was bleeding from his arm, she must have got him before she ran into Kylo, his admiration for her grew.

Kylo felt his phone vibrate in his hand and he texted his exact location to Phasma, Hux must be driving, which was good- they'd be here sooner and be able to get clean away.

The three men went to rush her and Kylo stepped out of the shadows before they could engage, clearing his throat loudly enough to stop them in their tracks.

"I think you should all fuck off and leave the girl alone." He said easily as he approached them carefully.

The large man turned to look Kylo up and down with a smirk, "I really don't care what you think, boy." He said, despite Kylo being taller than him, more powerfully built, where as his bulk was mostly fat. "Best not stick your nose into other people's business."

Kylo was about to reply when the girl took advantage of the their inattention to slash the one holding the whip in his throat with her machete, then she danced back out of easy reach.

Kylo's eyebrows raised as the man collapsed trying to scream and scrabbling at his already slick neck. The tiny thing had probably just delivered a killing blow without so much as an eye flicker. He might be in love.

All hell broke loose, the other two men callously ignored their friend and rushed the girl, overwhelming her almost immediately, though she got in a few cuts before the baseball bat took her down.

She crumpled to the floor, a tiny, limp mess of limbs, blood showing in a few places, but Kylo didn't have time to worry about that, he pulled a bit off wood from a pile of rubbish and whacked the large man round the back of his head, as hard as he could. And that was pretty damn hard.

The man's skull must have been as thick as a rhinoceros's though, because he only stumbled and cursed, staying on his feet, turning to face Kylo with a snarl, pulling a gun out of his trousers.

Well shit.

But the shot that was fired came from behind Kylo, with the soft sound of a gun fitted with a silencer, the large man went down, surprise writ across his face as he died, the collar and cuffs falling from his lifeless hands.

"What the hell is going on? I leave you alone for like twenty minutes and you're already in the shit." Came Hux's familiar drawl as he came up behind Kylo.

Kylo didn't respond, he walked closer to the two men still left, the knife wielder had put his weapon away and was clutching the still form of the girl in his arms, watching warily as Kylo approached with Phasma and Hux behind him.

The one holding the baseball bat lowered it, eyes darting and tongue licking his suddenly dry lips. Kylo decided to be magnanimous, this was already a bloody mess. "If you leave the girl you can go, but do it now." He said quietly, firmly.

They looked at each other, at their dead boss and mate, then dropped the girl and ran past, exiting the alley as quickly as they could.

Kylo winced as the girl hit the floor, then went over quickly to scoop her up, "Get her bag and machete could you Phas? I'll fill you in when we're home, we shouldn't hang about, for obvious reasons."

They took the piece of wood he hit the large man with as well, just in case it had his DNA on it, but left the two men as they'd fallen, then piled into Hux's car and drove off sedately, so as not to draw attention to themselves.

They went on a convoluted way back, on the off chance anyone was following them, then pulled into their garage and shut the door, hiding the car from prying eyes.

Kylo dumped the girl on the kitchen table, earning a disapproving look from Phas, then straightened her limbs so they could get a good look at her injuries.

"I saw the collar and cuffs." Phasma said quietly as she got the first aid kit from a kitchen cupboard. "What the hell did you stumble upon?"

Kylo shrugged, "I'm not entirely sure, but it was them against her, the guy Hux shot was talking about owning her and she clearly wanted nothing less."

He tucked the hair away from her face, realising for the first time that she wasn't pretty, she was stunning. Hux watched with interest, "I take it the other dead guy was her doing? Unless you have a knife hidden on you."

Kylo shot him a grin, "Yeah, it was her… Phas, should we wake her up? She's probably got a concussion."

Phasma nodded as she started to bandage a long cut on the girl's arm, and Kylo was suddenly unsure how to do it, Hux snorted at his hesitation and patted the girl's face, she made a noise that went straight to Kylo's groin and opened her eyes, blinking under the bright kitchen light.

Then she suddenly sat up, scrabbling back and almost falling off the table before Hux caught her. Phasma made an irritated noise as she lost hold of the girl's arm before she was done bandaging it.

Rey's head was pounding, the bright light stabbed her eyes and the spinning of the world made her want to vomit. But there were more pressing matters, someone had a hold of her.

She thrust her elbow back into their chest, causing them to make an "Oof!" noise, the grip of their arms slackening and she scrambled off the table and backed into the nearest corner, eyes darting around as she tried to work out where she was, what had happened?

She was in a kitchen, two men and a women watched her with interest, they bore no weapons, the woman even had a med kit out and Rey realised one of her arms was half bandaged.

She tried to calm her breathing, to stop the world from spinning. "Where am I?" Her words slurred as if she were drunk.

The larger of the two men sat down in a chair, making his bulk slightly less intimidating, but only slightly. The other two looked at each other then shrugged, sitting also.

Rey's eyes spied her backpack and machete sitting on the counter, her hands twitched as she tried to work out if she could reach them before the people stood up.

"You're in our house," The large man said, his voice seemed vaguely familiar. Rey's attention snapped back to him, "But what happened, who are you?"

He rolled his shoulders, as if unsure what to say, the woman, a blond, rolled her eyes at him then gave Rey a small smile, "You were cornered by some thugs, we got you out but not before you were knocked unconscious. You're bleeding quite a lot, come sit down and let me sort you out, I promise I won't hurt you."

Rey looked down at her arm, the woman was right, she was bleeding, a lot, her head suddenly felt very heavy, the spinning of the world seemed to overwhelm her and she started sliding to the floor. Before she hit it though, the huge man got to her, scooping her up as if she weighed nothing.

Rey blinked, trying to stay conscious, trying to will her limbs to fight the hold he had on her, yet all he did was sit back down at the table with her on his lap so the blond woman could tend her arm. His chest was unbelievably warm, which was good because Rey was suddenly freezing.

"Hux, make her a cup of tea, four sugars. I think she's going into shock." The woman said as she worked. The other man, Hux, got up with a long suffering sigh and flicked a kettle on. "Earl Grey okay with you?" He shot over his shoulder, rather sarcastically.

The man Rey was sitting on chuckled quietly, "Make a pot, Hux, I could do with one too." His hot breath on Rey's neck made her shiver.

"What's your name?" The woman asked, "I'm Phasma, or Phas if you like, and the beast you're sitting on is Kylo. Obviously, the sulky redhead is Hux."

Hux snorted at that but continued making tea. "I'm Rey…. I… What happened to Plutt?" She shivered again, the fear rising inside her and her gaze strayed to her machete.

A large arm tightened about her waist, clearly Kylo had noticed her glance. "Was Plutt the large ugly one with the collar? He's dead." He said it so casually, as if it were nothing. As if it wasn't life changing. Rey stopped breathing, Dead? Could it be possible? A slender hand took her chin and shook it gently, "You need to breath, Rey." Phasma said in a steadying tone.

Rey took a shuddering breath, then another, then choked on a sob. She choked as she tried to hold on to her slipping control. She didn't cry, she never cried, it was weak.

She forced it down, pushed it aside, angrily wiping the few tears that had managed to fall off her cheeks. "Where's the body?" She asked, only a slight wobble in her voice.

Kylo chuckled again, the vibration in his chest made her feel warm. "We left him where he fell."

Rey shifted on his lap, turning so she could eye his face, "I want to see it."

He looked amused, "Sorry, but I don't think that's a good idea. You should never return to the scene of a crime, sweetheart."

Rey scowled, but nodded in reply. It was true, but she would have loved to see it, to kick his corpse and spit blood on it, leave him to rot wearing the collar he had meant for her.

"Okay, your arm's done but you need to stand so I can take a look at your side, there's blood seeping through your shirt." Phasma said as she stood, Rey nodded absently and slithered off Kylo's lap, feeling the loss of his warmth immediately.

She pulled her shirt up without thought, she'd worn a lot less around Plutt's compound, there was a long but shallow slash down her side and she was surprised to hear the two men behind her hiss, the wound on her arm had been much worse, surely they weren't squeamish now? They'd killed a man tonight. Phasma raised her eyebrows at Rey too then leaned around her to look at the men, "What was that for?" She asked in an amused voice.

Warm fingers brushed lightly over Rey's back and she jumped and looked around as Kylo pulled his hand back quickly.

"Look at her back, Phas." Hux answered in a grim voice and Rey frowned in confusion.

"You guys never seen tattoos before?" She asked them, then heard Phasma suck in a breath too.

"Sure, we've seen tattoos before," Kylo said, "But how did you get those scars, Rey?" The sound of her name on his lips sent a little shiver of warmth to her belly.

Rey shrugged it off, "I got whipped when I tried to escape." She grinned to herself, still proud that she had never given in, "I got whipped a lot. It paid off eventually though."

Hux came and set down two mugs of tea in front of Kylo and a plate of biscuits. Rey's stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten for a good while, and she kept glancing longingly at the plate while Phasma cleaned and dressed the wound on her side, by the time the woman had finished, Rey was swaying again and Kylo pulled her back on to his lap, passing her the mug of hot sweet tea. It was the perfect temperature, the one where it is almost too hot to drink but you're able to anyway and you can feel it scald as it hits your stomach.

"Eat," Phasma said, pushing the biscuits closer to Rey. Rey didn't need to be told twice, cramming two into her mouth at once. Hux sat watching her in amusement, he'd clearly never been starving before. Phasma poured Rey another cup of tea and gave her some paracetamol to take.

"Take those, I'm going to ask you a few questions to make sure the bang on your head isn't serious okay?" Rey nodded and Phasma sat, watching Rey's face closely.

"How old are you?"

"I'm about nineteen, I'm not sure when my birthday is though." Rey answered.

"Where are you from?"

"Plutt's compound was in Niima, in the desert."

"Do you know what town you're in now?"

Rey shook her head, "No. But that's cos I just don't know, I didn't forget. I've been moving around so much since I got away, everywhere kinda blurred together."

Phasma nodded, "That's okay. I think you'll be fine, just need some rest and food."

Rey shifted uncomfortably, fully aware for the first time of what she owed these people. "Thanks, I... I mean it. More than you will probably ever know." She scrambled off Kylo's lap, self consciously brushing crumbs off her clothing- she had always been a messy eater. "I'll be okay now, if you can just point me in the direction of a main road, I can hitch a ride out of here, get out of your hair.. I'm sorry but I can't pay you or anything." She finished, a blush on her cheeks, aware of just how much she owed them.

To her surprise, Hux said firmly, "There is no way we are letting you go now. You need to sleep, properly. Two of Plutt's men left mostly unscathed and it's probably a bad idea for you to run into them."

Rey bristled, "I can take care of myself, if you let me have my machete back."

Kylo answered as Hux rolled his eyes at her, "I don't doubt you can normally, but you are currently weak, your reactions would be slow… besides," He glanced at Phasma and Hux who both smirked at him and gave him slight nods, "You could stay here, with us, you seem pretty handy in a tight situation and we get into tight situations fairly frequently…"

"Plus," Added Phasma with a grin, "You're pretty cute too."

Hux rolled his eyes at the woman then looked at Rey, pale eyes intent, "Just so you know, we're criminals, and we all sleep together, but you wouldn't have to, if you didn't want to, there is a spare room upstairs... Though I would be a little disappointed if you never joined us."

Rey felt her whole body flush, Kylo shot Hux an irritated look, then looked up at her from his seated position, the warmth of his brown eyes made her insides feel so much warmer than tea every could. "We would never force you to do anything." He said softly.

"Oh for fuck's sake you two, stop talking, can't you see she's a virgin?" Phasma's voice cut through the tension and Rey flushed again as the two men looked at Phasma in surprise, then back at Rey, eyebrows raised.

Rey shrugged. "Oh." Hux said, the short sound bursting with a myriad of feelings. "But, how?" Kylo asked, his voice sounded oddly strained, "What about the collar and the cuffs?"

Rey shuddered at the memory but smiled somewhat smugly and shrugged, "He was waiting till I got my period. I got it years ago but hid it from him."

Phasma laughed delightedly, grinning at Rey, "Impressive… So. Want me to show you to the spare room and you can make a decision tomorrow? You look dead on your feet."

Rey looked between the three of them, trying to sort through her feelings, things in her head suddenly clicked into place and she gave them a shy smile; the lure of being with three people who had already treated her with more kindness than anyone else in her life was too attractive to walk away from. They'd seen her kill a man and hadn't blinked. They had saved her. There was really only one choice, after all.

"Perhaps, I could… sleep with you?" She asked, shyness making her look at her feet. Kylo stood quickly and pulled her against him, he was so warm and she found herself putting her arms around him, the other two joined them and Rey found herself cocooned, wrapped up in warm bodies, safe. Kylo claimed her lips in a kiss, the others caressed her body, kissed her neck and Rey knew that she had finally found home.

Autonomee betaed this, she is wonderful 3

As usual, I am shit at tagging and summaries.