A short for a possible force connection not too long after the battle on Crait. I wrote this before I read the book, made some tweaks but it's not perfect, regardless hopefully you enjoy this small piece!

Kylo stood staring out towards the ground floor where the building of a new ship resided. Snokes was destroyed by the resistance's cruiser, some parts were still intact and usable, others were totalled. Since gaining the title Supreme Ruler he found himself working hard to undermine the New Republic as fast as he can. It helped that the Galaxy's hope in the Resistance was dwindling as he and the first order's power and resources were rising. Upon looking over the preparations a wave of a familiar presence engulfed his surroundings. Turning to his right he found himself staring at her. She'd been ignoring their recent connections, this was no different. He watched her with interest as she continued to work around the Island, she was almost convincing that she saw nothing. If it were not for the fact that as soon as he appeared she flinched slightly and gave no indication that her left side was at all visible to her. He always watched but never engaged. She looked annoyed, more or less. Before it was anger, he could see it in her posture, nowadays she was just irritated. He felt his lip twitch upwards slightly as she was muttering to herself. She could be an open book on occasions but, other times she was mysterious, her emotions didn't always make sense to him. As on Crait she did not hate him as he thought she would but she did not have any empathy as she did in the past. It confused him greatly that after all that happened, she harboured no ill feelings towards him. At least not in the way you would look upon your enemy, utter contempt, and no matter how hard he tried, the concept was not fully grasped by him. He didn't like that. Annoyed, he pursed his lips.

Someone called out to her; she responded without turning towards the voice, he could tell it was someone she was comfortable with. She was nonchalant with them, easy. Suddenly at the mention of a name she lost balance and knocked over her work. Kylo raised his eyebrow and turned his head straight ahead hiding the smirk that crept up on him.

It could have been his imagination but as he recalled there was only one Kylo Ren in the galaxy

Rey continued to mutter if not louder than before.

"... Not a word Ben" his head abruptly turned towards her. He was surprised at the very mention of his name, his old name by her. He didn't expect a lot of things from her after Crait, but this was beyond questionable. Even she seemed to be slightly caught off guard by calling him as such. It was a slip of the tongue, but it meant that for one moment, her guard fell. He caught her eyes raising slightly every so often as if she was resisting the urge to look him in the eyes. His attention, unfortunately, was taken a moment after

"Supreme leader..." His head turned not before Rey flinched at the name. The Captain was debriefing him on something, but Kylo dismissed him immediately. He forgot for a split second that they were enemies and that engaging ( whether actually speaking or not) within this force connection was unwise. She must of have remembered this too for when he returned his gaze she was looking him dead in the eyes. The same look as she had on crait when she severed the connection between them. She shifted again, her emotions, something that Kylo Ren found frustration in the least. Her brows were slightly bent and her eyes looked , pained. It was so tiny but he could see it. For whatever reason she was pained about, he does not know. One moment longer they looked at one another

And then it was gone.

The connection broke and Kylo turned to face forward. The amused expression dissipated and all that left was a cold and passive look. He turned and walked out of the room not looking back.

Rey continued to stare at the empty space of grass where he stood.

"...don't you think Rey?... Rey?"

"Hm?" she turned towards Finn. He looked at her oddly and asked

"You alright?" She blinked and nodded quickly

"Yeah, sorry, just thinking. What was it you were talking about?" Finn gave her a look but continued

"Leia wanted to do a debriefing for the next move and I thought it would be good if we do it now instead of later in the day." Rey nodded

"Sure, sounds good."

Rey walked after Finn but her mind wandered off. He had looked, different, as the Supreme leader. She didn't want to say he fit well but all his efforts and time was to grow the First Order and destroy what was left of the New Republic and so far he was working well with that. She didn't want that for the Galaxy, and being honest she didn't want it for him. Leia had lost her husband, her brother, , Holdo, multiple soldiers who died in the line of duty, the list could go on. There was nothing more she wanted for Leia than for her son to return home. But even then it would take time. Judging by how he look, hopefully not too much more time.

Rey knew that despite the darkness that shrouded him, the light still remained. However he needed to find and harness it, not her. She gripped her staff a little more harder as she walked up the hill to the huts. She needed to win, for her sake, her friends and most importantly for Ben Solo.

Thanks for reading! :)