A/N: Now with a book cover! Also Chapter titles! Woohoo!
This chapter has a bit of mature language but it's not that bad. Even writing that much made me turn as red as the Throne Room walls...
Thanks so much for your feedback both here and elsewhere! It seems everyone thinks the Force expects more from Rey than what we've seen so far and all I'll say is you're not wrong.
Their only mistake was allowing themselves to become separated. Back to back they moved as one, him stabbing forward just when she needed to lean on him for support during a kick. Rey let the Force move through her body, trusting the instincts it provided for how to move and when. But even with the help of the Force she began to get tired. She wasn't used to fighting so many, that were so armored, with such deadly weapons. Slightly missed timing and the last guard fighting her managed to scrape her arm with a glancing blow.
This enraged Ben, but not in a way that made him stronger. His desire to end the fight quickly made him sloppy. He quickly dispatched one of the three left fighting him, but his lightsaber struggled to get through the armor of the second. He succeeded, but the third guard took the opportunity to stab towards his midsection, forcing him to jump back and dropping his lightsaber in the process.
They were both locked in battle with a single guard and not faring well, a high tech weapon at each of their throats. In a bold move, Rey dropped her lightsaber from one hand into the other as she ducked out of the guard's grip and immediately slashed his gut, sending him flying over the edge. One down, one to go. Glancing towards Ben she saw he was weaponless, and without hesitation threw her lightsaber across the room into his waiting hand, poised perfectly to plunge into his captor's head.
He rose to his full height and discarding both the guard's weapon and the lightsaber to the side, never taking his eyes off her. His stare was mesmerizing, locking her in place as he stalked toward her. He was the predator and she the prey but she felt no fear, only exhilaration. He thought he heard her sigh his name as he bent to crush her lips with his.
This was nothing like the soft kiss they shared in the escape pod. It was filled with need and a fire that could not be quenched. Ben growled into her mouth, frustrated at their height difference. He bent at the knees, clutched the back of her thighs, and lifted her to straddle him. Rey grabbed fists full of his hair to steady herself, but if the pain bothered him he didn't show it. Without even looking he strode back towards the throne. One hand shifted to her ass for better balance while the other swept Snoke's sundered corpse off to the side to be forgotten using the force.
Ben took his rightful place on the throne with Rey on his lap and he couldn't imagine anything else ever feeling so right.
Rey couldn't imagine anything else period, except maybe him with fewer clothes. She took her hands from his hair and tried to gain access to the skin of his torso, the skin that had left her flustered when he teased her with it through their bond. Ben had a similar idea, rubbing his calloused hands on the soft flesh beneath her tunic, causing her to shiver against him.
He was half hard from the moment their lips met, but the feeling of her shifting on his lap and the knowledge of her intentions did him in. A whimper escaped her at the feeling of him through her thin leggings, causing his cock to twitch. Rey abandoned her quest to remove the clothes hiding his chest from her and instead reached for his waistband, but he had on those stupidly high waisted pants. She broke the kiss and leaned her forehead on his, both breathing heavily.
"Damn you and kriffing layers!" she breathed out.
His piercing brown eyes bored into her hazel ones. "Are you sure this is what you want?"
She could tell he was holding himself back by the pressure he was using to grip her skin, as if her hips were the anchor keeping him grounded. Was that pain she heard in his voice?
It was just too good to be true. The second between his question and her inevitably coming to her senses seemed to last a lifetime. He almost regretted asking, but he knew this was something he could never come back from. Letting her go now would be the hardest thing he had ever done, but maybe she would still stay? Maybe she'd still allow him a place in her life. But her regretting it after… that would be the death of him.
He was broken out of his rumination by her enthusiastic consent, and he could barely believe his luck. "Yes, I'm sure! Now help me get these kriffing things off!"
"Haar'chak!" She cursed, jumping off his lap and almost falling off the dais. She had looked down at her hands to see how to remove his belt and spotted the homing beacon on her wrist. "The fleet!" Rey ran back to the magnifying oculus and saw the diminished number of ships. "Order them to stop firing, there's still time to save them!"
Ben sighed deeply and adjusted his pants, then stood up to walk toward her with a solemn expression on his face. He knew it was too good to be true. "Rey, you said you would join me. Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi, the Rebels? Let it all die. We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy. Do you think they care about you, the way I do?" He was a pace away now, with eyes like steel. "You have no place in this story. You come from nothing, you are nothing," he spat with venom. But then his eyes softened and Rey saw the Ben he only shared with her. "But not to me. Join me. Please."
He reached out his hand, but she hesitated. She was taken aback by his cruelty and the contrast with his gentleness. Looking back from his hand to his eyes, she thought she understood. His malice was not aimed at her, but at the ones who threw her away. She swallowed and stood as straight as she could, putting her hand back down at her side and leaving him crestfallen. "There's one group you forgot in your speech, the First Order. I did promise to come with you, and I want to stay with you now. But you have to let them go. Then when we've got time we'll figure out what happens next. Together."
His shoulders sagged with relief. She moved to his side where he could put one arm around her shoulder and her an arm around his waist. He staunchly refused to acknowledge the tears staining their faces as he barked into his com, "Get me General Hux!"
A moment later they heard a petulant voice come through, "What do you want, Ren? I'm kind of busy."
"Call of the attack, let the Resistance go. They are no longer a threat," Ben replied.
Hux scoffed, "You want me to let them go? Not a chance."
"This order comes directly from the Supreme Leader. You will obey or suffer the consequences," Ben ground out between his teeth.
"Supreme Leader Snoke ordered this? I find that highly unlikely. I am on my way up to confirm it with him myself."
"Snoke is dead. In a tradition as old as the very Force itself, I have taken his place. You will obey."
Hux laughed. "You? Supreme Leader? Over my dead body."
The com cut off. Ben was incensed. How dare Hux move against him. He seethed and clenched his fists, ready for a fight. Rey untangled herself and went to look for their lightsabers. "Is this Hux important? Who does he have on his side?" She asked.
As much as Ben was loathed to admit it, Armitage Hux was popular among the Order. He took a deep breath and reached out with the Force to see if he was coming alone or bringing backup. Most of the crew were in their regular positions: at workstations, in training rooms, in their barracks. A company of stormtroopers were waiting in a hanger, most likely on standby should the Resistance make planetfall. Elsewhere two squads were congregating.
Ben chafed inwardly. "He's bringing 20 'troopers. We could take on that many normally, but…"
"I see." Rey had found Ben's lightsaber and was now picking up her own from where he had dropped it earlier. "Looks like the First Order made it on your list after all. I assume there's a way out of here?"
"Yeah just behi…" Ben never got to finish his sentence. An unimaginable amount of energy flared through the throne room, a brilliant flash of white following immediately in its wake.
Rey woke up first and crawled over to Ben to make sure he was okay. In a move similar to when they were on the Falcon, she brushed a lock of hair behind his ear and softly called his name. A look of pained confusion marred his face, but that all changed when he opened his eyes to see her bending over him. Ben broke into the biggest, most adorable smile she had ever seen.
"I love you," he said, the smile growing impossibly wider and crinkling his eyes.
Rey rolled her own. "No you don't, you have a concussion. Now get up, we've got to find a way out of here!" She knew the feelings they had for each other went beyond anything she could have previously imagined, but they weren't ready for that quite yet.
His smile turned into a pout that was somehow even more adorable, but he let her help him to his feet. The resulting orthostatic hypotension caused it all to come rushing back to him. He pulled her behind the throne and opened an almost imperceptible hatch in the floor. Taking both of her hands in his and looking her in the eyes he pleaded, "this leads to Snoke's personal escape shuttle. Get the launch sequence started while I ward of Hux. Promise me, if I'm not back by the time it is ready to go you will leave without me."
She stared at him with a slightly open mouth and pain in her eyes, silently shaking her head no. He reached both hands up to cup her face and gave her a kiss that made her doubt her previous concussion diagnosis. As the lift doors dinged open and boots started marching into the room, he begged her one more time, "promise me!" Without waiting for an answer he ignited his lightsaber once more and rushed around the corner, determined to defend Rey at all costs. She had no choice but to descend into the shuttle bay and start preparations. She waited an additional minute after it was ready to go, praying he would return any second. With tears streaming down her face she left Ben and the cleaved ship behind.
A/N: These two can never catch a break! D: This is basically the end of Act I for them, we're back with Luke and the Resistance next chapter. And that should be it for canon compliant material if you're getting burnt out on that.
Comments and favs make an author's day! What did you think of Ben's little confession there?