She had heard his voice in a Force vision so long ago, and even at the time, she recalled feeling as though she had known this person for so long before she'd actually met him...

The voice soothed her, calmed her in ways she had longed for since she was a child...

'Sweetheart.' It echoed in her mind.

Blinking away the longing, Rey straightened her stance as she walked back into her home, a small dome of clay that protected her from the harsh heat outside, a place she had grown to love even more than her AT-AT on Jakku.

There wasn't much in the home, but having been on her own for so long and then thrown into a world of so many people with the Resistance, part of her felt glad to have her space back.

As she placed her things down on the ground by the front door, Rey felt a quick twinge of guilt hit her abdomen at the thought of the people she left.

Those few months ago, when she'd made the choice to leave, Finn was not happy about it, and part of it came from worry for her. Rey knew she couldn't reveal much, but the times when she spaced out were more and more evident while the visions played, and eventually, he noticed.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" He'd asked.

At first, she was embarrassed, having no control over her own reactions as she stared off into the distance, mute and wide eyed.

She had no answer for him, and it hurt her just as much as it did him.

Finn was her first real friend, the first person she'd ever connected with, and she was the same source of familiarity and friendship he had since abandoning the First Order.

"I can help you, Rey." He begged when he discovered her packing her belongings. She faced away from him, silently hiding her tears.

"Finn, it's out of my hands. The Force is calling me somewhere out there, and there are-"

She stopped herself.

'Voices.' She wanted to say. 'Voices that whisper to me, that talk to me from the darkest corners, that show me pictures of both my wants and fears...'

Even now, standing in her temporary home on Tatooine, her heart stuttered with a stab as she recalled his words.

"Let me come with you! We've faced bigger things before." Finn offered with a scared, hopeful smile as Rey turned around.

She returned it with a sad smile. "Poe needs you."

He shook his head. "The Resistance needs you." He challenged. "I need you."

Rey's eyes brimmed with tears at the words, though she still softly shook her head. "And Rose needs you." With a heavy sigh, Rey closed her bag and sighed heavily. "I'll be back. The Resistance is thriving right now. Maz and Leia have pulled in so many fighters since Crait..."

Finn frowned, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he watched her.

"Rey..."

"Finn. When the Resistance needs me again, truly needs me, I'll be right there fighting besides you all. This is not the end. I just need to clear my head."

A dark voice chuckled in the back of her mind, and Rey's skin broke out in goosebumps before pushing the laugh away.

"I will be back." Rey assured him. Finn nodded, and they hugged one another tightly for a long moment, neither of them willing to give the other up.

With a deep sigh, Rey tried to relax her shoulders in the present as she flicked the memory away, hearing Kylo Ren enter her home behind her.

Her brow creased as she turned and leaned against a small bookcase, her eyes raking him up and down, taking note of his red cheeks and the drops of sweat falling from the tips of his dark hair.

Seeing her eyes on him, Kylo straightened himself, regaining his composure as he stood tall, his chin rising in the air.

They watched each other for a long moment, and eventually, their minds clashed against each other, a sudden attack that the other half expected, though they were both equally surprised at the strength they held.

Neither mind budged, and frustrations grew high.

"What happened out ther-" Kylo began to demand of her, interrupted by Rey.

"You said you needed to speak to me, here I am."

Rey crossed her arms, her eyes intent on his.

He couldn't make sense of it...

As he read her, or tried to at least, he made the discovery that not only had her powers grown profoundly, but her mind was blocked as if something or someone was protecting it, a possessive latch hissing at him any time his Force reached out.

The feeling froze him, and he struggled for a moment to breathe.

"Rey..." Her name drifted from his lips with his realization, a soft whisper that reached her from across the nearly empty room.

She shifted uncomfortably, feeling the same concern that she had experienced from Finn.

It was odd to her, to feel such a thing from Kylo Ren of all people, but she knew if the tables were turned, she'd be equally worried for him.

Having always been self-reliant, Rey hated it.

She could take care of herself, and she disliked the look in his eyes that seemed to show a hint of...

Pity?

Rey growled under her breath as she pushed away from the shelf and tried to move past him, eager to be anywhere but in his presence.

Kylo, however, refused to move out of the way, instead forcing her to stand before him, only a foot away as he studied her face.

Sensing his refusal, Rey narrowed her eyes at him.

"Move-" She began to both challenge and demand him before he cut her off, grabbing her arm and pushed her against the wall.

She immediately struggled, and though he lessened his grip, he did not let her go.

Bending his neck, he met her eye level as his mind made sense of the blank look she had earlier, and how her mind seemed so distant.

"Did you have a Force vision?" He asked, his voice both amazed and slightly frightful.

Kylo remembered reading about such things in his years with Skywalker. It wasn't an uncommon thing, though it was definitely a passageway for both the light and dark side of the Force.

With Rey so inexperienced to begin with, he couldn't risk her power growing alongside the dark without his guidance.

Rey froze in his grasp, her eyes widening the smallest amount, but it did not escape his notice.

Seeing the confirmation in her silence, Kylo pressed on. "What have you seen? How long has this been happening?"

Rey looked at him as her heartbeat fastened, surprised to find comfort in the fact that she wasn't exactly losing her mind, though she was still disturbed by the whispers...

Her thoughts flew by one right after the other as she weighed the consequences of telling him what she's seen...

Ultimately, since some of these visions had to do with him, she decided against it.

"And why do you care? You haven't talked to me in months. You never opened our bond until now, when you want something. You don't get to just come and go as you please!" Rey scowled at him as her hurt boiled to the top of her being.

She had thought of him so often, and eventually accepted the theory to be true, that she didn't truly matter to him, that the bond meant nothing.

Yet, even if that were true, why did she still care?

Her teeth clenched as she glanced away from him, a certain longing returning to her, a feeling she had tried to ban from her inner self.

At the knowledge of this, the memory of his lips on hers came rushing back, her heart stopping with it.

Why had she kissed him? Rey shook her head at herself as she thought.

So many nights she had wondered what it would feel like to kiss someone, and to be kissed by someone, a motion that didn't exactly appeal to her, though she was curious about it.

And then, she had found herself so close to Kylo when he'd arrived here, feeling the heat of his long body, unable to push away the pull from his mind to hers, the way he looked her over with his dark colored eyes and imperfect, scarred face curtained by long, black locks.

He looked somewhat healthier than he did when she had left him on Snoke's ship, the purple circles beneath his eyes were nearly gone, and the scar was healing itself for the most part. His body alone seemed larger, toned muscles outlined beneath his heavy tunic and cloak.

It was a mix of those things that led her to push him against the rock, to lean in closer and get a better look.

She had seen people kiss back on Jakku, her curious child gaze watching from around the corners as she fit herself into other people's lives, a mute observer while she gathered the junk of ships and the few tender moments of such acts.

Place your mouth on the other person's, right?

And so, that's what Rey had done.

His visit on Tatooine was still too sudden for her liking, but she didn't have any visitors, and it was true... She had wanted to speak to him for so long, with nothing to really say, but the need to hear his voice and remind her that it was all real, and when the bond remained silent, it ached in her heart at his refusal.

But if he truly wanted to keep her away...

Why had he kissed her in such a passionate way after her own careful, wide eyed kiss?

Remembering the way he had grabbed her and pressed his mouth to her, his soft, warm lips hugging hers, made her cheeks heat up and redden as she stood before him now.

Her question seemed to trigger something in him as he stood there, his hand slowly releasing her as he stood there, looking down at her with a serious and apologetic look.

He hadn't thought that she would even notice when he wouldn't answer her call through the bond, in fact, he himself assumed she never meant to brush her mind to his on the times he did feel her.

Even with that said, what would he say to her?

'Why did you leave me back on the Supremacy? Why did you reject you? Why would reach out to me if you did so purposefully?' Each question flew through his mind, though he refused to pay attention to them.

The question he wanted answered now stayed at the forefront of his mind: 'Why did you kiss me? And why did I kiss you?'

He didn't really need her answer to the second question...

He had already known.

Since the first time they met face to face, even with her strapped in place as he interrogated her after removing his mask, he wondered what she would taste like.

The curious thought stayed with him every single night that followed.

Kylo glanced away from her pink cheeks, wondering if she was thinking of the same thing...

Clenching his jaw, his gaze returned to her face, his tone both deep and soft as sincerity seeped through.

"I didn't-… I never meant to make it seem like I come and go as I please... After you left to Crait...I..." His voice trailed off, unsure of what he wanted to say, or how to say it.

Rey glanced to the ground between his boots, the red in her face slowly fading as she thought, and Kylo waited.

"Everything..." Rey began, her own tone was so quiet that Kylo had to focus on listening closely in order to make out what she said, her gaze refusing to move. "Everything you did on Jakku... That was good..."

Kylo's breathing hitched, uncomfortable and feeling exposed, but he quickly relaxed as confirmation set in, that she had known indeed.

He didn't respond, instead he stood there only a foot away from her as she leaned against the wall, and eventually her gaze moved back to his.

"I'm going to heat up some food. We can talk over dinner." Rey said as she sighed, fidgeting with her hands before she caught his gaze.

For a long moment, longer than either of them would like to admit, they watched one another.

( X )

He wasn't sure what he expected, but it was not the events that played out shortly after that.

Rey excused herself from her home, Kylo following her after removing his cape and proceeded to watch silently over the next couple of hours as she succeeded in hunting, capturing and cooking their meal.

It was such a thrill to see in action, watching Rey as she accomplished what she did best: Surviving.

Later on, as both suns gave mercy to the people and creatures of Tatooine, Kylo and Rey sat silently at a big boulder as they finished their meal outside, enjoying the nighttime breeze in front of a small fire.

Their company alone filled the silence between them, each of them lost in their own thoughts and the sudden comfort each had in the other's presence.

Setting her plate to the side, Rey looked up to the stars above them, admiring the shine of each that she could see.

From beside her, Kylo followed the movement briefly before he turned his eyes back to her face, choosing to admire her instead.

After a moment, Rey spoke with a hint of amusement behind a thin line of annoyance.

"Are you going to talk or just look at me all night?"

Kylo didn't want to answer her, knowing she probably wouldn't like him saying that yes, he would very much like to continue his study.

With a clear of his throat, he started. "There's something in the Force, I can't pinpoint it, but I-"

"Know it's there?" Rey finished with a cold smile as she looked back at him, the shadows of the fire flickering across her features.

They looked each other on for a moment before Kylo nodded. "Yes. There was an awakening, and with it came a darker presence." He turned his body to face her, trying his best not to think much on how her gaze drifted to his lips briefly.

Sighing, Rey glanced to the fire before them. "I know. I don't know who it is, but..."

Just as Rey was going to continue, the flashes of visions she had seen flew through her mind, picture after picture:

A cold, red war brewed around them as her friends struggled to fight their way back home through a dark forest.

She was lost, but his voice assured her that he'd return, 'Sweetheart.' it'd echo.

She could feel Leia's life force drifting away, just as Poe screamed in the background.

The vision broke into static, a pale, boney hand reaching out to her as a sickly tone cackled in her ear.

And there, in a black room with only the stars to witness, her bonded fell to his knees as he bled to death.

And later on, she would see herself, heartbroken and in tears as she held onto a young boy with dusted freckles across his cheeks and black hair the hid his face, holding onto her as they wept, alone.

Again, a dark chuckle in the back of her mind tore her from these visions, bringing her back down to reality as she sat in the night with Kylo Ren.

Gulping, Rey shifted uncomfortably as she felt his gaze on her, watching her intently.

"What is it that you see?" He asked, his tone husky but concerned.

Her stomach began to hurt, and she truly wished it had been from the food rather than the terrible feeling of losing the people she cared about the most.

Blinking away the tears before they spilled, Rey's teeth clenched together.

"I... I can't tell you that..." She whispered towards the fire.

"Rey," Kylo stood, only to move himself in front of Rey, bending to his knee between her own as he forced her to meet his eyes. "An old Sith Lord has somehow resurfaced. Force Visions can be a gift, but they can also be a gateway to the dark side. You have to be careful with this..."

With her eyes on him, he watched as she froze, however she did not speak.

Thinking of the only thing that could possibly help, he recalled the words she had once spoke to him. "Let me help you." he softly encouraged.

Rey looked at him, her lips parting gently as she remembered when she had said the same words to him, a plea made out of tender hope she held out for him.

If it were true, she decided after a while, what would be the consequences? If this... Sith Lord he'd called it?... What if it changed things drastically? What If this choice led her down the path she was trying to desperately to stay away from?

Worry and guilt stabbed at her, constant anxiety for the unknown as the 'What if's' plagued her mind.

Her jaw hardened as she again thought of her friends falling away in the red war, and ultimately decided that she would do whatever it took to avoid it, a conscience choice to plan out the possibilities, even if it drove her mad.

Rey slowly nodded her head.

"We can help each other... But I can't tell you much..." she timidly whispered.

Kylo took a long moment before he gave a single, curt nod back.

At least she was willing, he decided.

Standing, Kylo relaxed his shoulders as he waited for her to get up as well before she shook her head.

"Oh, I... Well, I don't sleep at night." She explained quietly, peering up at him from the sanded ground.

His brows creased with a silent question as he glanced around him, wondering why.

Rey cleared her throat. "The voi-" She stopped herself.

She wouldn't mention the voices... Not the whispers...

At least not yet, not until she knew of Kylo's real intentions, and if they were earnest or not.

She sighed. "They come at night, mostly." Rey said, being as vague as possible, thankful that he did not question it any further as he moved to take his place beside her once more.

This time, her own brows creased. "Oh, you don't need to stay out he-"

"I will." He said, folding his cape up to rest his back against the boulders they sat at. She watched him carefully, surprised at the gesture, yet even more taken aback at the comfort and ease she felt knowing that he'd be there with her.

( X )

It had been an few hours later, and they were still in the same exact place in front of the fire, occasionally shifting to get more comfortable. Usually, by this time, Rey was back to meditating, however she found it incredibly hard to even focus on the flames with him sitting next to her after being gone for so long since Crait.

Having gotten used to the silence, Rey hoped he didn't notice her jump when he spoke suddenly.

"Jakku..." He muttered with his eyes boring into the center of the fire as he spoke gently. "It... It was all for you."

Her eyes softly flickered to his face, his eyes still held away from her as her heart swelled.

Kylo settled against the boulder, turning his back to her as he laid against the hard rock, his own heart seeming to come alive at the admission, and the memory of her lips on his repeating over and over as he fell asleep.

( X )

Author's Notes:

Thank you all for the amazing feedback! I hope you all liked this chapter, don't be afraid to let me know 😀

Also, if anyone is interested, this story is titled after the song "Carnivorous" by Band of Skulls. I HIGHLY recommend that you listen!