Carnal Alchemy

The earth split.

She had no time to flee, no time to ruminate the gravity of the situation. The last thing Rey wanted was to face the monster she had just sent falling to the ground. Kylo Ren was still heaving, clutching the shoulder she had pierced. Hems of his robes were fuming; bloody crescent marred his pallid face.

He spat blood, the only anesthetic appeasing his descent into the world of pain. Rey fell to the snowy ground. Was it the sight of his blood which sent her there? That couldn't be. She had seen him bleeding in the forest before, when he hit himself like a madman.

"The base…it's going to collapse." She buried her hands deeper into the snow. Cold calmed her, cold was the unknown she had missed on Jakku.

"Not collapse – explode." He cuffed and the blood stained ivory. Dying should have been simple, just like being born. He didn't struggle, then. Dying should have been quiet and yet, thousands of voices approached the warrior who stripped them of life; who stole the gift which wasn't his to take. Colors were swirling in his vision and marking air red and black and he was mourning the loss of it all, selfishly, as only a killer could.

Rey's head shot up.

He was talking to her, even after she nearly gave into that calling. Kill him, one strike, one sway of your blade and you can be free of him. Kill him, he deserves it.

"Are you deaf?" He roared, angry at himself for his paralysis. Ren didn't mind she had bested him in a fight. He would deal with her later. Right now, getting the hell out was crucial. This snowy ground was about to turn into a volcano.

Rey bolted up and started running the opposite way, wordless, defying the certainty of their death. He couldn't believe it. She was going to leave him there… Maybe he had underestimated her; the lioness in the skin of lamb. Maybe he shouldn't have exposed his desire to teach her.

"Fuck." He cursed after third unsuccessful try to get to his feet. He scrambled to all four – that was a small victory. The heart of the Starkiller base trembled; snow was falling from the pine trees and the pain blinded him whole.

"What – have you come to finish me off?" He yelled. She came back? Rey was gripping her chest, bent and fuming.

"The ravine…" She forced herself to speak, constricting her lungs to convert the chill into breath and breath into words. "It's… it's gone. There's no- …nowhere… to…to go." When she raised her head, he was already standing. Impressive, she thought. The blaster should have killed him. She should have killed him. He lived, as a weed gnawing from under the rotten soil.

So, she came back driven by the same selfish need to live as him. He bared his teeth in a feral scowl; which attacked her more than his lightsaber. "You," he pointed at her. He forgot what he meant to say – surely an insult, or a threat; once he tasted blood on his tongue. His blood. He remembered she mutilated his face and shouted into the night.

Then, they both felt only fire and pain.

Starkiller base started exploding from within and the detonations followed one another like a string of chaotic fireworks. Rey fell down out of fear. Kylo fell because of exhaustion. All bones in his body were cracking, collapsing together with this planet; the essence of his being was fading and getting colder than the snow. The Force didn't lead him gently into sleep, it cracked and contorted his muscles, sizzled his veins and made him look into the eyes of his enemy, the one who caused it all. That was his greatest punishment.

"I have to get out of here!" She cried to herself.

I. It didn't escape him. Long, chilling breaths soothed the anger he felt. If his parents didn't care if he lived or died, why would his enemy?

"You're not going anywhere." He threw the bulk of his body at her. Rey screamed and kicked, trying to get him off her. The impact flayed him to the bone, but he channeled the pain, turned it into hatred with the help of the dark side.

Together, they were wrestling, not for power but for their lives. It seemed easier to die together than alone. The anger welled in him and he would have taken her out with this base. Panic prodded her – the very touch of this man was a spread of pain. He was scooping pieces of her skin under his nails, clawing, hurting at the same time.

Something carnal awoke in him; a desire to make her shake in fear, not cause her pain. Fear snuffed the light from the darkest corridors of her heart; in fear he had her in his power. He knew creatures like her, righteous beyond the understanding of low mortals such as himself. She valued freedom above all, and if he could take if from her, she would wither.

Rey was shocked, but her defenses never failed. She was hitting that side wound; but when her tiny fist ploughed inside and the warmth encumbered her; she withdrew at the speed of light. He roared so loud that she craned her head, dipping her ears in the snow. Rey was trembling and getting dizzy from the knowledge her hand had just left Ren's insides. She bit his arm, he yanked her hair. The buns fell loose and as much as one meant to scar the other, the detonation buried them both.

"Can you move?" Rey heard herself speak. "Move," question turned to order when he kept fuming into her ear. She was by no means weak, but her constitution seemed gauntleted when compared to his.

"Huh…huummhh.." He stirred, bereft of sense of time or space. The setup felt too intimate for her; his body too real. A distant enemy she could take, perhaps even kill. But now that she felt his skin, he materialized. It was easy to pierce the concept, but not a living, breathing man.

The breath. She breathed in the steam rising from his mouth. Their very life force mingled in that infinitesimal distance which separated them. Rey parried off him, but her palms dug into his chest and he fell back, only harder. Pushing him was futile, but she had to get him off her. Each of those heated breaths fomented her more. His garb felt coarse, as if she was clutching straw.

"This is impossible."She let out a small moan.

He regained consciousness. She knew not because he moved. Quite the opposite – the second he came back, he went limp; but she could tell. The beating of his heart changed. How could I know that? Rey caught herself thinking. She didn't feel her own heart at that moment, smothered by snow and flesh. His flesh.

"Get the hell off." She had angled her knee to kick him where every man was bound to feel the pain. "Or I'll make you."

He shifted, but just enough to look into her eyes. Rey looked past him. She wouldn't give him one look, one thought. It was all wasted on him. But when she gazed upon the sky over his shoulder, her jaw hung open. Ashes and fire were burning into the night. The stars disappeared; the horizon reflected only charred embers of the burnt out fireplace.

The planet was dying.

In the corner of her eye, she spotted X wings and TIE fighters engaged in perilous fight. Every hit of green laser was bringing the Resistance closer to victory, but Rey and this monster closer to death.

Her eyes fell. He kept staring at her, unmoving, like an ever watchful guardian. Minutes before their certain death, he might very well have been.

"Do you want to live?" His voice sounded calm, so unlike the dying monster.

"What?" Rey blinked.

"I'm asking you if you want to live, or not. It's a simple question which requires only yes or no answer. Surely, you can do that."

Rey let out a small sigh. He drank it right into his parted lips. She felt it all as if lying under magnifying glass. She buried one stretched palm into the snow, but the other swam in something warm and soft. His blood. It flew out of him as a sap from a tree, drenching Rey's hand.

She took in his breath, his flesh, his blood. Was there no part of him that didn't belong to her? She found herself spreading her legs more, inviting him, but not to take anything, only fit better into the puzzle which became of their joined bodies.

"Yes. Of course I want to live. I have somebody to live for, unlike you."

"Hmmh." He scoffed.

Rey swallowed nothing but frost as he shifted between her legs and ignited the strange need, the feeling she had never experienced before. You weren't a killer before, too. He was teaching her the worst while they were marching to death, not hand in hand but flesh on flesh.

"Hey! Stop it! What are…" for the first time, she felt helpless and scared. His large hand grabbed hers and slid it lower, in that narrow strait between their bodies. She brushed his chest, his abdomen…and he kept going, pulling her down on him.

"Don't be afraid." He coaxed her and then, pressed her fingers into his belt. "It's a tracker. The Order will be notified of my position. They'll come for me."

For all their stealth; they couldn't fool Ren. He knew they had had him monitored. He decided not to compromise their transmission with an idea of need for the situation just like this. It proved useful, just like he had anticipated. A lot of things didn't go his way, but this plan did.

He felt her pulse quicken under him. "What?" She asked. "They'll come for you. Me – me they'll kill. Let me go!" She squirmed and pushed, but he kept her locked in a cage made of his limbs. She dug her heels deep into the snow; but not force could propel him up; for she felt warm and weak under him, even though she was the furthest thing from it. The thrust of her pelvis appetized his senses, so dull, so starved for affection.

"Calm down."

"Stop saying that! I don't give a damn about you or your advice. I should have ki…" She bit her tongue. Never – she must have imagined that evil voice. She would have never taken a life on her own. Not even his.

"Yes, you should have."

Rey craned her head. The move came with his presence, the one she made while cuffed to that torture chair. Her cheeks pressed into the snow and chest swelled with panic. Once again, she was strapped under him, helpless, ready to fight and scream. "Please." She let out a small plea, so soft because it was futile.

To her immense shock, the pressure lifted.

He rolled off her into the snow. The frozen blanket served as their battleground and coffin. She was still shaking, even after his weight disintegrated. But now, she felt alone and abandoned in this frozen inferno; so alone like never before; when the vastness of sand dunes shrank her in size and spirit. He stained her, left her all bruised and bloodied. His blood was saturating her tunic, her hands, and left a pervasive taste on her tongue. That rusty metallic odor was him. Even after he marked her, his dark eyes kept taking in more and she would have gouged them out, just to make him avert them.

He marked her.

"We're going to die here." Rey sat up. Only now did she see a glistening pool of red where his torso had lied. "You're hurt." Nice catch. So much for stating the obvious. "I mean – you're…"

"I'm dying. I noticed." He said dryly.

Suddenly, the urge to kill him vanished. It never existed. Suddenly, by some rapturous turn of events, she wanted to save him. He spilled blood of his father, but she would not bathe in his.

"AArgh!" he hollered in pain."What are you doing?"

She ducked under his arm and tried to lift him up. "I'm helping you." She wanted to curse him or make a smart joke at his expense. They had to laugh it off – no, the planet wasn't collapsing on itself. No, they weren't minutes from certain death.

He clambered up, but at the same time fell back on the ground; taking her down with him. He noticed her goosebumps and blue lips. Silly scavenger. Why did she have to wear a thin, linen nothing? A linen nothing which he stained with that weak blood; spilling his cursed lineage onto her like a seed.

She gave up.

She couldn't drag him with her. They were lying on the snow next to each other, looking at the fireworks in the sky. The detonations got closer and oscillating earth plateaued. One plate ripped from the other and carried them to the unknown. They didn't have the strength or will to fight it, so they simply laid there and panted in fear.

From afar, they looked like lovers, star gazing into the cold, silent night. Opalescent mist was rising from their mouths, his twirling faster and wafting to her lips.

They looked at each other.

He found a gleam in her brown, soft eyes. The disgust, with which they greeted him before, disappeared. He felt something in the Force, warmth spreading from her. He felt…

"…compassion?"He whispered.

"What?" Rey shuffled closer.

"You have compassion for me." He said quietly. Of course, a bleeding heart like hers would have. It was easy to pity a dying predator; a savage animal finally caught into an iron trap.

"I'm sorry we're going out like this. I'm sorry you killed your father. I'm sorry for my friend Finn who is dying alongside us – so close, but miles away. But," she plunged into his face." I don't have compassion for you."

She flinched. He raised his palm and touched her cheek.

"No," he muttered and tossed his leather glove away. Skin on skin, blood on blood. He wiled himself to feel it and consume the last soul; savor last life the warrior would take with him. He repeated the movement. Rey knew what was coming, but she didn't swat him away. Did it mean she wanted him to touch her? Didn't she mind?

"I can feel it. The Force…you feel it too. I know you do – that something that connects us."

"Murder connects us; destruction of billions ties us together – not your empty words. "

His thumb was no longer resting on her jaw. He was brushing her chattering lips, parting them with one would-be touch, one feathery stroke.

She didn't recoil. If they were about to die, was it so wrong to desire closeness of another human being? Even for a moment, even from the monster…

He crashed into her. She wasn't expecting it; so she did nothing. This is my first kiss. Way to go, way to think about something as stupid and trivial as this; when their hearts were moments from immortality.

Kylo would possess her, kiss away her trepidation.

Rey closed her eyes and let him guide her. He softly brushed her lower lip with his tongue, demanding entrance. She parted them and a jolt of electricity surged through her navel. She never felt so much of anyone near her, let alone inside her. His tongue felt soft and suddenly, he tilted her head and stroked the corners of her mouth in a new rhythm, plunging in and out. Rey dared to explore him, just as he was her. She needed to get closer, to feel more. She gently tugged his robes and brought him as close as possible. If a deity ruled the galaxy, it must have tasted like this.

Passion crippled their anger. Now, they truly were on the verge of pleasure and pain.

She felt safe and in danger; she felt cared for but used. But most importantly, she felt. His blood was trickling into her from that face wound which opened along with his heart. Her blood was crashing into her ears and she let out a small moan. That drove him away – she needed to breathe, although why she would breathe the air that wasn't coming from him was a mystery.

"Seems like one of us is going to make it." His dark eyes defied her. He licked his lower lip subconsciously, and she felt the insane urge to taste him again.

"A ship!" Rey leapt to her feet and waved, trying to get the attention. Large hovercraft was descending down.

Kylo Ren managed to climb up and smirked. "Is it one of yours or mine? For your sake, I hope the Order's analysts were lagging as usual and didn't receive the transmission. "

Rey spun.

Words could harm, but she felt as if he physically kicked her in the chest. Kylo sensed her turmoil in the Force. Two young fools; his mind screamed, following the misery which led them here, battling with weapons too big for their hands and too lethal for this encounter. His expression changed; he wiped that scorn from his face. Once smooth of wrinkles, he looked young and vulnerable.

"Don't worry, scavenger. I still need you. You're more useful alive than dead to me." He said.

"I don't need you. So, you should worry. You're not useful either way." She hoped to poison him for that kiss; that fire he ignited.

They were both squinting against massive lights of the descending ship, each hoping the other one would get picked up first. After all, they still had unfinished business and revenge was best served to a body with a beating heart.

A/N One shot, so far, maybe more.