Rey was standing at the base of the sand dune, waiting for someone to come over the crest of the hill. Her parents? No, they wouldn't be there on Jakku. Kylo Ren? Yes, that was it. They had been working on the ship and he had told her to go ahead while he made some final adjustments. Still, what was taking him so long?

Just as Rey was beginning to get ready to go back over and search for him, she saw a shape moving at the top. She smiled and was about to call out to them when suddenly more shapes followed the first one. Her words caught in her throat as a fully masked, black-cloak clad Kylo Ren descended the sand dune, followed by a mass of Storm Troopers.

She had only seen Storm Troopers once before when they were doing surveillance on Jakku for an escaped criminal. Rey had seen and heard enough about their behavior to know that they were not to be trifled with. Scared, she began to back away but found that her feet felt like they were sinking into the sand. That was strange—she was miles away from the parts of the desert where she could sink. Rey struggled to free herself as Kylo Ren and his small army marched towards her.

"Don't fight it, scavenger," she heard Kylo call to her, his voice once again deepened and warped by the helmet. "You can't get away from us—from me."

"What's going on?" Rey demanded of him as he got closer. "I thought you were my friend."

Kylo reached out his hand and used the Force to pull her to him. He held her by the shoulders, his gloved fingers digging into her. "I am your friend, Rey," he replied. "That's why I'm taking you back with me to the First Order."

She shook her head, wishing she could look him in the eye rather than at the cold, black and silver mask. "No, that wasn't the plan," she argued. "We were going to run away together—away from the First Order. You wanted to be free, remember?"

"I want you, Rey," he said, pulling her closer to him. "You'll be by my side when the First Order rules the galaxy."

"This isn't right," Rey growled through gritted teeth. "Let me go! I don't want to be with you if it means working with the First Order."

He put his hand on her face. Her body suddenly felt heavy and she couldn't move a muscle. Kylo then scooped her up into his arms and turned back towards the sand dune. "You'll come to appreciate the Dark Side someday. I promise."

Rey opened her eyes and she was lying in bed. The room was still dark, so it was not yet morning. She took a deep breath then let it out slowly. It had only been a dream after all. Even so, she could still feel those gloved hands digging into her shoulders.

She rolled over and saw Kylo there. He was sleeping soundly in scavenger rags and no mask. Rey stared at him for a few moments, surprised at how different he looked when asleep. His face was free of all the burdens it carried during the day, making him look quite at peace with the world. The tension in his shoulders was gone, allowing him to be splayed out and relaxed on the bed.

As Rey examined him, she thought back to the first time he had revealed his face to her. From the beginning, she found him to be rather handsome in terms of looks. Now, seeing him asleep, he looked just as much if not more appealing than he did when he was awake. It gave Rey a strange feeling in her stomach that she could not place but did not think was unpleasant. She had definitely never felt that before.

Her eyes felt heavy and she laid back down beside him on the bed. Rey wondered if he would turn on her like he had in the dream. She realized how much she hoped he would never do such a thing. It had been a risk, allowing him into her home and her heart. After all, betrayal was a distinct possibility and Rey had never before put her trust in anyone. All she could do was hope that she had made the right decision in trusting him.

The next morning, Kylo woke before Rey did. He smiled when he saw that she had fallen asleep facing him. Her long brown hair was out of its usual buns and spread out on the cloth pillow beneath her head. Kylo was sure he would never get over how truly remarkable she looked.

His eyes wandered over the rest of her body. He was hyper-aware of every bit of skin showing. Kylo felt his heart rate pick up and his hand clench the bed sheet when he noticed part of her breast showing through the sleeve beneath her arm. He turned away, taking more than a few deep breaths to banish the sensations suddenly rushing through him. Rey had just become his friend—he didn't want to ask for any more than that just yet.

Getting up from the bed, he stretched then made his way over to the washing chamber to wash up and get ready for the day. It seemed a bit counter-productive to wash now when he was just going to go out into the desert to work and get all sweaty again. Still, it was a habit of his to do the washing in the morning.

Kylo pulled off the scavenger tunic and trousers that Rey had made for him. He ran his fingers affectionately over the stitched seams in them. Even though he had turned his nose up at the clothes at first, he was touched that she'd put in the effort for him. She had been so worried about him dying from the heat that she had gone and made him some new clothing. He smiled, folded the clothes up, and laid them carefully on the floor so he could wash himself.

When he was finished, he went out and saw that Rey had already arisen and was eating a small chunk of bread. She grinned when she saw him but then her cheeks turned pink and she looked away quickly. Kylo realized he hadn't put his tunic back on yet. She must be embarrassed to see him without it on.

"Sorry," he apologized, hastily pulling the tunic over his head. He could feel his own cheeks burn slightly from the blunder.

Rey shook her head. "It's alright. Have you had breakfast yet?"

Kylo accepted the slice of bread she offered him and sat down beside her to eat it. "Well, today's the day—are you ready to leave Jakku?"

"Sort of," she replied, finishing her bread. "I'll be glad to get away from everything but at the same time I feel like I'm giving up."

"Giving up?"

"Yes—on my parents."

He laid a hand on her shoulder. "You're not giving up. We're going to find them now instead of waiting for them to find you. You never had the opportunity to look for them before so it's going to feel different."

She nodded slowly. "I suppose so. I think I'm going to miss this place, in a way." Rey looked around at the AT-AT interior that she had fashioned into a home for herself. "I spent so many years dreaming that I was someplace else and now that I'm actually leaving, I feel reluctant to go."

Kylo finished his bread then stood once again. He offered a hand to Rey and pulled her to her feet. When she was up, he did not immediately release her hand. Instead, he gave it a squeeze, looked her in the eye and said "Don't worry, everything's going to be just fine."

They packed up their tools and supplies for the journey across the galaxy and headed out to work on the ship for what would hopefully be the last time. Kylo couldn't deny, he was eager to get off of Jakku. While his time with Rey had formed him into a new man, he still hated the desert. It was too hot for his taste and there was too much sand. He couldn't wait to take Rey with him and show her the new world he'd promised her.

She walked by his side, talking about planets she had heard about from travelers at the outpost and her desire to see them. He laughed when she said she wanted to visit Dagmar, the marsh planet. Rey defensively told him that she had never seen a marsh before and wanted to experience what it felt like to walk in one.

Though he was looking forward to this potential new life with Rey, Kylo still felt apprehensive. After all, defecting from the First Order was no small task. They had ways of tracking down their targets throughout the galaxy. Still, Luke Skywalker had managed to do it. Perhaps he and Rey could manage to do the same.

Kylo wondered if he should try and bring Rey to Luke instead of the place he had in mind. He was uncertain if he had the courage to face his uncle just yet. After all, their last parting had not been under the best circumstances. It might take some more time before Kylo was ready to see him again.

They got to the ship and immediately set about making the final repairs. Hardly a word was spoken between the two while they worked since both were eager to get it finished. Even their break for lunch was quick and without much dialogue. By early afternoon, Kylo was cautiously optimistic that they were done.

"Think it'll fly?" Rey asked as she wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist.

"It should," he replied, closing up the panel he had just finished working on. "The new fuel pump is where it needs to be and the secondary alternator was humming when I fired it up earlier. We covered all the minor damages too so I see no reason why it won't work now."

She got to her feet, stretching her fingers after the hours spent holding tools. "Well, only one way to find out. Why don't you fire it up and go for a test flight?"

He approached, smiling down at her. "Can you fly?"

"I can, yes." He gestured to the ship and Rey held up her hands. "Whoa, hang on. You want me to fly it?"

"I don't see why not," Kylo replied. "Not that I don't think it's going to work, I just want to see what kind of a pilot you are."

She looked uncertainly at the ship. "I don't know. It's been a while and I'm not very good."

He gave her an encouraging pat on the back. "You don't have to go very far, just take it up for a few minutes then touch back down. If you're not comfortable doing it, I can. I just thought I'd give you the opportunity in case you wanted to try."

Rey was silent for a few moments then smiled. "Okay, I'll give it a go."

Kylo watched as she climbed up and slid into the cock pit. He backed up as she started the ship so that the wing wouldn't hit him on takeoff. There were a few tense moments as nothing happened, and Kylo worried that the ship wasn't actually fixed after all. He felt his heart begin to sink to his stomach. They would have to spend more time fixing it—Rey would have to spend more time on Jakku.

Then there was a roar as the ship came to life. Kylo's triumphant laugh was drowned out by the loud take off as it soared upwards into the sky. He watched, feeling elated and proud as Rey flew the ship across the desert. She really was one hell of a pilot. He was glad that he'd encouraged her to try it out since she was doing a great job of it.

As Kylo Ren was thinking about how exciting it was going to be to travel across the galaxy with her, he saw something else in the sky that made his heart stop: A fleet of First Order ships.

"No," he said aloud as he watched the fleet heading right towards him. They must have found the data for his final coordinates before the ship crashed. And now they had come to take him back.

Kylo's mind raced. If they found him and Rey, they would in all likelihood kill her just because she was a scavenger. That was something he could not allow to happen at any cost. And with her still test flying the ship there was no way he could get a message to her in time.

Or was there? Rey was Force-sensitive like him. There was a small chance that he could try and speak to her. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to calm down, Kylo tried to reach Rey with a telepathic link that the Force enabled two people to sometimes have. In his mind, he reached out to Rey, trying to warn her of the incoming fleet. At least he could get her back to the ground before the fleet mistook her for a thief and shot her down.

It must have worked because he saw her coming back to him. It looked like she would land only minutes before the fleet did. There would be no running away from them—they would have to face the First Order head on. Kylo just hoped they still feared him enough to listen to him.

Rey was dismounting from the ship as the other ships were landing nearby. She rushed over to Kylo Ren, looking angry.

"Did you call them?" she demanded.

"No, I swear," he replied, still watching the landed fleet carefully. He knew Rey was probably hurt and confused by their sudden appearance but he couldn't worry about that just yet. Now, his only concern was keeping her alive.

"What do we do?" Rey asked, her tone still forceful.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Trust me," he told her. "That's all I need you to do right now."

Within minutes, the Storm Troopers had disembarked from their ships and were marching over to where Kylo and Rey stood. Once there, they paused and then parted so that a man in a black hat and uniform flanked by two more Storm Troopers could pass to the front. Kylo nearly groaned when he realized who the man walking up to them was.

"Well Ren, I didn't think we would ever find you," General Hux called when he was a few feet away from them. Kylo could see he was grinning smugly. "What the hell are you wearing?"

Kylo Ren stepped forward, ready to set his plan into motion. "Scavenger rags," he replied. "Not my first choice obviously, but my clothing wouldn't allow me to work on fixing my ship out here in the desert."

Hux was sneering now, a sneer which somehow managed to increase when he caught sight of Rey. "Who's the girl, Ren? A play thing you found? She's filthy, but I have to admit she looks pretty enough to fuck."

He knew Rey must be bristling with indignation and ready to beat Hux to a pulp with her staff. Quickly, Kylo replied "Oh yes, she is quite the hidden gem on this planet. I caught her while she was trying to scavenge parts off my ship and made her my own." He turned around and approached Rey, who looked like she was more than ready to murder him. Kylo stroked her neck then gave her a wink and whispered "Play along."

Rey's expression did not change but he could see in her eyes that she had understood what was happening. Reaching up, she slapped his hand away. "Enough! Don't you give me enough of that in bed?"

Hux threw back his head and laughed. "My, it seems like you have yet to tame that scavenger rat. Here, put these on her and you can bring her along as a souvenir." He tossed Kylo Ren a pair of First Order cuffs then gestured for him to follow. "We must be on our way now. Supreme Leader Snoke has commanded your presence as soon as you get back to base."

Kylo clenched his fists and readied himself for the next part of the lie. If this did not work then their situation was about to get much more difficult to escape from. "I'm going to take my ship," he called to Hux. "As luck would have it, I just finished it today. That is why the girl is out here with me—I made her test fly it for me so that I could take us both back to Starkiller Base."

"Liar!" Rey cried, storming over to his side. "You promised me my freedom after I test-flew your ship for you."

Using the Force, Kylo froze her then put the cuffs on her wrists. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but the pleasure you bring me is too good to be left behind on this miserable planet. You're coming with me so I can continue to enjoy you."

Hux smirked. "I must say, Kylo Ren, I never knew you had such an affinity for women. I always assumed your work interfered with—ah—other aspects of life."

Kylo turned to glare at him. "Do not forget who you're talking to, Hux," he growled. "I can throw you up into the atmosphere and laugh as your body compresses and freezes in the void of space."

The General's smirk faded and he cleared his throat. "Hurry up and get the girl into your ship then. The Supreme Leader does not like to be left waiting." With that, he beckoned to the Storm Troopers and they all marched after him, back towards their ships. Climbing on board once more, the fleet took off from the planet and shot up into the sky.

"I am definitely going to get you back for that later," Rey grumbled. "But thank you for getting us out of that."

"Thank me when we're safely out of reach of the First Order," he said, ushering her back to the ship. "Climb on board so we can get out of here."

When Rey didn't move, he sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I played it the way I did but it was the only way they'd let me take you with me. I'll make it up to you once we're safe."

"That's not it," she said. She held up her still-cuffed wrists. "I can't exactly climb anything like this now, can I?"

He grinned. "You'd be surprised. Here, I'll just help you up in case they're still watching." Kylo used the Force energy to lift Rey off the ground and deposit her in the cock pit behind the pilot's seat. "I know it's a little cramped but get as comfortable as you can. We've got a long flight ahead of us."