Kylo Ren abruptly looked away from the young woman sitting to his right, and instead fixed his gaze on the softly bubbling fountain. He hadn't really expected to avoid answering that question; the girl was nothing if not headstrong, and she was extremely suspicious of others, undoubtedly from her time on Jakku. It only made sense that she'd demand to know why, after a kidnapping, an interrogation and a duel, he'd suddenly save her from a First Order assassination; indeed, the tired knight had spent much of the trip to Coruscant trying to come up with an answer, and he wasn't any closer to one than when he'd first felt an uncharacteristic need to protect her.
Altruism had never been a trait he'd possessed in great abundance, apparently in stark contrast to the rest of the Skywalker family, and it wasn't something he'd observed in his actions for many years, not since joining Snoke. Yet here he was, sheltering a girl he'd wanted dead mere months ago. It had been there nearly immediately after she'd pushed him out of her mind; a pull to the light, stronger than he'd felt in years. At first, he brushed it off, chalking the flicker up to a residual effect of the mental link he'd established. As days turned to weeks and he became aware of the Force bond he'd unintentionally created, Kylo told himself it was merely the light burning brightly in the young woman that he felt. When he'd decided to hide her away from the First Order's commando teams, the knight had reassured himself that it was simply in his own self-interest; her death might damage his own mind through the link, and even if it didn't, he wanted, needed, to understand their connection. As he snuck a glance back at her, he found it increasingly difficult to pretend it was only for his own sake. Regardless, he couldn't very well discuss it with her, not now.
Rey watched silently as the man next to her stared blankly through the smooth marble orb of the fountain, as if his mind was millions of parsecs away. His brow furrowed, relaxed, and then tightened again; his nostrils flared ever so slightly, and at one point, his lips drew tightly into a sharp line. She studied him, hoping to find some chink in his defenses, perhaps even one through which she'd slip into his mind undetected. Finn had reluctantly agreed to allow the eager young woman to practice her mind probing techniques on him, and though her skills were unrefined, she'd made considerable progress.
Rey's current efforts were stymied, however, as the brooding man in front of her suddenly swung to face her, his knees brushing against hers and prompting a shiver to race through her body. "Sorry," he murmured quietly, leaning away from her. For a moment, she worried that he had been rifling through her mind, had seen what she was attempting, and was about to reprimand her. She sad nothing, his distracted manner reassuring her that he'd been too focused on the question she'd asked to pay any attention to what she was doing. "To answer your question," he started slowly, still not clear on what exactly he'd tell her, "the Supreme Leader ordered you killed because he believes your strength in the Force poses a threat, both to him and to me."
The cloaked young woman shuddered at the mention of Snoke. She'd expected to be on the wizened Force user's radar, but somehow, confirmation that she had been targeted by the evil being still caused a knot to tighten in her stomach. "So then why aren't I dead now?" she asked bluntly, growing more confused with the situation unfolding before her.
"My master and I disagree on that point," he smiled ruefully. "Surely, you've felt the connection I accidentally forged on Starkiller base…?" Rey only nodded in response. She'd become aware of it after a few weeks with Luke. In the beginning, she'd assumed the volatile swirl of emotions she felt was her subconscious, struggling with her rapid shift in circumstances, but as she continued to meditate and became more in touch with herself, she'd realized that the feelings belonged to someone else. It hadn't taken her long after that to realize who; for one, there weren't exactly a lot of people that she could have someone formed a mental link with, and as the connection solidified, she'd seen snippets of his dreams, enough to confirm her suspicions.
"Good," he continued, "I assumed as much. I haven't informed Snoke of the bond, and I don't believe he's become aware of it on his own. Of course, that also means he didn't consider the damage he could do to my mind by killing you-"
"So this is just for your own self-preservation then." Rey interrupted, her eyes flashing dangerously. "How kind of you to keep me out of reach of your commandos while you protect yourself from any mental damage."
He shifted uncomfortably in front of her; this whole situation was rather delicate, and he was trying to approach it as such. No matter what he said or did though, it seemed that the fiery Jedi in front of him would turn it around on him in an attempt to pick a fight. Sighing, Ren decided it best to ignore her last interruption. "I must admit, Rey, I'm also curious about that link – about you," he paused, gauging whether she'd be receptive to his musing, or if he was about to be on the receiving end of a verbal or physical slap. Sensing no imminent attack, he continued. "Force bonds of this strength are rare, and unless you've secretly been circling the Finalizer for the past few months, our bond stretches greater distances than I've been able to find recorded in any Jedi or Sith texts."
Rey's lips curled into a look of distaste at the words 'our bond', "I am not bonded to you," she seethed, "You obviously messed up your interrogation and created some sort of link. Just fix whatever it is you did, and we can forget all of this happened."
The soft babbling of the fountain had relaxed the raven haired man, and he let out a low, rumbling chuckle in response to the young woman's impetuousness, which earned him a furious glare. "You think this is funny?" she snapped at him. "Trying to earn my trust by stroking my ego after you've locked me away in your penthouse indefinitely?"
Running a large hand through his hair absentmindedly, Ren exhaled deeply. "You think I'm lying?" he asked quietly, all the while identifying and burying certain memories deep within his mind. "Why don't you take a look?" he hissed, throwing open the gates and letting his consciousness flood into the space around them, washing over and mixing with Rey's as he roughly pushed a few memories and thoughts at her.
Her head spun, and she barely noticed that she'd doubled over when a memory of Luke burst into her mind. For a moment she watched, entranced, as the glowing blue line of Luke's saber sizzled through the misty air of Ahch-To in a training maneuver, and she flinched when a second blue blade crackled to life and blocked his swing. Recognizing the scene as a recent afternoon of training with Master Skywalker, Rey allowed herself to relax and float in the memory, observing the two spar as if she was looking down on them from above. She'd nearly forgotten why she'd be reliving such a memory in the first place when the scene suddenly changed, and she found herself staring down at the curled up form of a well-muscled young woman.
As she peered into the darkness at the woman, Rey realized with a start that she was looking at herself, and that the version of her lying in an austere bed was crying quietly, her body shaking as she held back sobs. She didn't need to wait to know what had caused the tears; it had been a few months back, and she'd failed at yet another training exercise Luke had presented her with. As she lay in her bed, his disappointed face kept replaying in her mind, as if on a loop, and the only comfort she could imagine was being with Finn and Poe, who were light years away from her. The failure and crushing loneliness had been too much for her to stomach that night, and she'd cried until the first feeble rays of sunlight pierced their way through the fog the next morning.
Rey let the image of the broken young Jedi fade slightly from her focus, and tried to understand why she was replaying these memories. It made no sense to her; Ren was simply showing her memories of her own, which certainly didn't prove that there was any sort of enduring connection between the two of them. As she searched for anything out of place in the memory, she felt a dizzying sensation as the image in front of changed once more.
Almost immediately, she could sense that she was not alone; another presence was observing the events unfolding before her. She blinked once more into the darkness and realized she was still looking at herself, in her small room on Ahch-To; something was distinctly different about this memory than the previous one. The Force that surrounded her felt as if it was simmering, drawing closer and closer to a breaking point, but never quite reaching it, and as she watched the other Rey, it became apparent why. One tan arm had snaked low, a slender hand disappearing nearly up to the wrist beneath the waistband of her leggings, and memory Rey wore a look halfway between pained and euphoric on her face, her brow furrowed and her eyes screwed tightly shut, a faint blush rising up her cheeks as a sinful moan escaped her parted lips.
Just then, it hit her – Ren was watching this too. He'd slipped into her mind somehow, and was observing the scene unfolding below; she was sure, with an unbearable smugness. "Get. Out." she growled, searching frantically for enough of his presence to hurl him violently from her mind. She felt his conceit as memory Rey continued to work her fingers even more frantically beneath her trousers, another whimper ghosting from her lips, and Rey felt both a heat begin to pool in her stomach and a fierce blush burn up her cheeks and across her chest. Clenching her own eyes shut, she tried desperately to locate the cruel knight in the Force, and, finally sensing enough of his presence, she threw him from her mind. "That's PRIVATE," she roared, panting as the heat scorched her cheeks and she glared at the smirking man sitting in front of her.
Ren congratulated himself on successfully keeping memories of his own reactions to those scenes locked up tightly, far away from any prying Rey may have tried to do. "Do you think I could've watched any of those things through some accidental Force mix up?" he asked, smirk widening as a triumphant twinkle danced in his dark brown eyes.