That night, it rained.
It was an all consuming, torrential rain that came down in sheets - which prevented them from doing much of anything - anything other than sitting there and waiting for it to pass. Rey found herself alone, in one of the chambers that a Jedi student had likely held before her, with her lightsaber sitting beside her as if they were both in thought. The chambers were like little pods, but Rey was glad to find that when she pulled back the heavy, dusty curtains, there was a large window that looked out over the planet.
The rain storm was unlike anything Rey had ever seen - the sky flashing a bright, bruised purple each time the lightning crashed - proceeded by a large boom of thunder. It was so loud sometimes that it shook the windows, but Rey found it somewhat soothing. The lights in the room were off, and though the day had been humid, she found it cooled down considerably with the rain. She sat with her knees pulled up and her arms slung over her kneecaps where she rested her face and kept her thoughts on the storm. She found herself resisting thinking of anything else, why they were there and how it had ended up the way it had. She made herself push any thoughts of Ben Solo from her head - though her reprieve was not a long one.
She felt him standing at her back, the hairs on her bare neck raising just a tad as his looming, dark presence made itself known. She turned her head, though she didn't look at him full on. She had to admit, she was waiting to see what he might do. When he continued to stand there, stalwart, like a statue, she rolled her eyes and focused back on the storm. For so much impulse, he certainly had a hard time making decisions.
"I don't feel like doing this right now," She finally said. It was a sentiment that echoed an earlier one, but this time, he didn't respond.
She heard his heavy foot falls, and she expected them to disappear, but he came nearer. He sat down beside her, large even when he was sitting. She hated how much she responded to him, and how aware of him she was, but she did her best to ignore it without physically moving away from him. If this was to be a game, she would stand her ground.
"Me either," He finally said, his voice echoing in her head as it once had - or so she thought.
Despite how hard she tried to avoid it, he was there, buried somewhere where she might never uproot him.
She expected him to get up and go, but he lingered. She heard the woosh of the electronic door as it finally shut behind him, leaving them encapsulated - doused by the flashing light of the storm. Finally, she looked at him, his long hair having grown an inch or two since they came here, his face unshaven. It made him look older, and less boyish. She studied the swoop of his long nose, and the pout of his lips, which seemed to be perpetually pressed into some sort of frown. It was his eyes that stood out, pretty brown that caught the light and surprised her each time they fell on her. She didn't know if it was because she had once hated him, or if because she felt something more for him now.
He turned then to look at her, as it was almost impossible to keep her thoughts from his, and they were all tangled up in each other now. She expected to see anger on his face, or that stoic stoniness she had become accustomed to, but there was only his open expression.
"I'm sorry," He finally murmured. "Perhaps Luke was right about me," He said, offering up the smallest smile he could muster.
She wanted to be sarcastic, but she was worried he might slam shut like a door in her face. She wasn't sure she could bear it again, even though she knew she might have to. For that moment, she advised herself not to focus on the future, and just allow herself to be there - with him. She remained silent, merely looking him over as they both slowly shifted to face one another.
"I should not have-" He paused, ever at odds with himself. "I should not have shut you out. I'm sorry,"
She wondered if there had been more to it, initially. She hadn't expected to hear two apologies in such a short period of time, but she realized she had been wanting to hear it. They had stumbled into each other that night, but it had only made it worse to find that he kept pushing her away. Whatever it was, his affinity for the dark side or his fear - it hadn't made her feel any better. Besides, she had to imagine that Leia had taught him better.
He laughed, and she realized he'd heard her. She smiled awkwardly in return, rolling her features into her arm to try and hide her face. It was odd, and frightening, this awful intimacy. She wasn't sure if given the chance to do it over she wouldn't try harder to turn away from it. She thought of how brazenly she'd faced him, and how abruptly he'd told her that he was in fact a monster. He didn't seem so monstrous right then, but maybe that was part of his appeal.
She found that they drew closer, the longer they stayed together in this room - like two planets that couldn't quite get out of each others orbits.
She found herself reaching out, drawing his hair away from his face - fingertips tracing the scar that now marred his eye and his cheek, all the way down to his breast bone. It had been her handiwork, a mark he would carry around with him forever. She had never felt guilty about it, but she did find herself fascinated with it's shape, even now.
She heard him, in a place that seemed far away and in a time that seemed long ago; Can you see my surroundings? I can't see yours. Just you. The look on his face then would be forever painted into her memories. She thought she should tell him, how much he had meant to her, and how much he had lifted her loneliness - and what a strange place it was to find companionship. She knew that he knew, however, and remained silent.
There was a lot that went unsaid.
She moved herself forward, enjoying the look of pure surprise on his face as he dropped his legs down and allowed her to settle into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, and she slid down atop him in a slow manner that was wholly different from the first time they'd been this close. She slid the fingers of both hands at the nape of his neck, curling the tips in his dark hair before she leaned into him completely, her mouth dropping a whisper of a kiss to his.
She felt the tremor of his want underneath what he was trying to hold back, though he forced himself to move at a slower pace - as if it had been over too quickly the first time. This time when he kissed her, it was with a sweetness that almost drew tears to her eyes and the breath from her lungs. It was the sort of thing that she had been sure he was completely incapable of.
This time, it was less fearful, less obliterating. She slid her fingers along his abdomen, lifting his shirt up and over his head and letting it settle aside like so much dust. She found, that up close, he had a good deal more scarring than she had realized. She let her fingers trace along his skin - she had once expected him to be ice cold - but he was warm underneath her touch. He let her explore, his eyes on her face as she examined each ridge of scar tissue. He seemed curious at her curiosity, before he returned the favor, stripping her of her clothing slowly, letting it grow the pile of now discarded clothing.
She felt his hands drift along the curve of her now bare back, a thumb tip coming forward to brush curiously at the bud of her nipple, causing the flesh to respond quite obviously to his touch. They continued their slow undressing until both of them were bare, warm flesh pressed together enticingly while their hands explored, as if committing each other to memory. As if they might not get another chance.
This time, Ben lifted her up and carried her to the bed, and Rey found she preferred it to the hard, cold ground. His mouth was everywhere, and she felt the touch of his lips and tongue with such intensity that she almost became oversensitive to it, even when he touched his mouth to the most delicate of places. Her fingers delved into the dark mass of his hair, and by the time he was done, she was a shivering, aching mess.
He wasn't finished, and she felt herself shifted into his lap. When they connected again, she released a breathy gasp, trying to keep herself from being too loud. He was silent, but she could feel the uptick in his breathing against her neck. She held herself up by sliding her arms over his bare shoulders. They moved in silence this way, the only indication of any activity at all being their hitched breaths and the barest noise of movement atop the sheets.
Rey felt his breathing become more erratic and his movements more irregular, she grasped the meat of his arms, nails dragging small red marks in the flesh. It seemed as if he stopped breathing, and released a throaty, pleased gasp before his motions stilled completely. She fell back against the sheets, her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath. He came to lay beside her, and she found herself wrapped up in his arms.
They fell asleep this way, sated and free of thought, holding onto each other as if the universe had plans to rip them apart - which Rey was sure it did.
Rey was awake before the sun rose completely. It had stopped raining, and she found Ben's weight was comforting. She was mildly surprised he was still there, considering how this had gone last time. She shifted to examine him, her fingertips drifting over the strange slope of his nose and the curl of his lips. His eyes opened eventually, blinking against the light of the morning. She smiled at him, and she was surprised to find he smiled back. It was so unusual to see him smile, but she found she loved the way his face crinkled up and the odd angle of his teeth.
Lets stay here, like this.
She still found the echo of his voice in her head shocking, but she could only drop her head into his chest in response. He kissed the crown of her hair, wrapping his arms around her again. She found herself crying, the emotion coming up out of her like vomit, the worries and fears she'd been staunching since they got here. He held her tightly, but said nothing - not because he didn't know what to say, but because she now knew that he felt much the same as she did. This whole thing was impossible, and yet, here they were.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Rose's hesitant voice.
"Rey? Breakfast is ready. Have you seen Ben?"
Rey took her bottom lip beneath her teeth, leaning back to look at Ben. He kissed her, very briefly.
"I'll be out in a minute," She said, as kindly as she could. "I don't know where Ben is,"
Rey didn't feel good about lying to her friends, but when she thought of the alternative, it was unbearable. It had been hard enough dealing with Finn's anger, and she couldn't think how the rest of them would feel if they knew how far it had gone. Ben released her, reluctantly, and she slid out of bed.
They rinsed and dressed in silence, stealing moments to hold hands or kiss each other's skin - because they would be forced to going back to pretending. Rey left the room first, giving Ben one more look before she turned the corner, heading in the direction of the breakfast smells.
After enough time had passed, he followed.
Finn and Poe were sitting next to each other, eating breakfast slowly and quietly. Coffee had been made, which looked and tasted like mud, and Rose had done the best she could with the supplies they had and the equipment they'd brought. Rey gave them all a cursory good morning, but she could tell that it had been a long night for all of them. Rose looked tired for the first time since they'd been there, and Finn and Poe could barely exchange two words. Rey wondered at it, but then she remembered what Poe had said.
The deathly pall that fell on the group when Ben showed up seemed to be missing, as if somehow they had all finally accepted his presence there. They sat next to each other, but were careful not to sit too close or look at each other for too long. Rey was afraid the others would know just by looking at her, and was relieved when no one seemed to notice that anyone was different.
They packed up camp in silence and Ben and Rey watched as the three of them loaded themselves onto the speeder. They would be forced to hike, which meant that they would beat them back to the Falcon, but none of them had any idea how long it would take Rose to get it working again. They had the communicators, to keep in touch, and Ben and Rey went out in search of any evidence of the creature that was slowly strangling the life out of the planet.
The day was more humid than the last, and they were stripped down to be as bare as possible before they came across running water. It must have come from the rain, and Ben paused, dropping his pack to the ground and lifting his shirt over his head.
"What are you doing?" Rey asked.
"What does it look like? Come on, it's hotter than hell,"
"It won't do much good," She said, once they got out of the water they would be humid all over again.
Ben smirked at her.
"Are you afraid?"
"No," She said, rolling her eyes. She dropped her pack and dressed down as much as she could without being naked, slipping into the water with a sigh. It was cool enough to provide some reprieve, and she submerged herself completely before resurfacing, pushing her hair back from her face. When she looked around, she saw that he was alone.
"Ben?" She called, a bit uneasy.
She felt something wrap around her ankle, and tug her under. She gasped, though whatever it was let her go rather quickly and she was able to resurface. She saw him do the same, wiping water from his face and laughing.
"You're not funny," She said, sending a wave of water in his direction.
They splashed water like this back and forth, both of them laughing, as if they weren't trying to get off of a cursed planet and back to a big war where both of them stood firmly planted on the opposite side. Ben stopped, his face falling as his eyes settled on something behind her. She thought he was teasing her again, so she chided him, but when she realized the look on his face was quite serious, she turned to follow his eyes.
She saw one of them, black eyed and black mouthed, standing there staring at them from across the embankment. Rey's throat seized up, and her mind immediately began racing. How long would it take them to get back to their belongings, how many of them were there. That was when the girl did something strange. Her mouth opened, as if she was trying to speak. Rey was sure that she could almost see the girl she had been before all of this. She was clearly having trouble using her own vocal cords, and the words she was trying to form escaped her.
Was she trying to help them?
The more Rey looked, the more she noticed her garb. She was wearing what looked like Jedi training robes, earth toned and wrapped around her body, held in place at the waist. Obviously, there were what seemed like years of wear and tear and muck staining each one, but Rey wondered if she had been one of the children who had been trained there. The temple had to be thousands of years old, and it obviously hadn't been occupied in maybe as much time.
"No Jedi," The girl finally croaked out. "All dead,"
She kept repeating it, pointing back in the direction of the temple. She was trying to tell them something, but Rey couldn't guess what it was. She wondered if she was referring to Luke, who was dead, or something else entirely that had happened eons ago on this planet. Once she found her voice, she began to shout it, pointing fervently back at the temple.
Rey looked at Ben and he shook his head, it wasn't clear to him either, and when Rey tried to reach out into the girls' thoughts, there was nothing but dead air. What was prompting her to do this? If her mind was truly gone, how had she broken free long enough to find them and make a haphazard attempt to warn them?
Something rattled in the bush, and startled the girl. She took off running, and was gone before either of them could get out of the water and get after her. Ben ran a few steps, looking to see if he could still see her, but she was gone, like a ghost. They were silent as they both mulled over what she'd said to them, though the girl had been pointing at the temple. Rey had found her light saber there the night before. Obviously this whole mess was something to do with that damn temple, but if they were all being killed, who would have had time to record it?
They dressed quickly and picked up their packs, mostly running back in the direction of the temple. Rey hadn't realized how far they'd gotten from it, but she clicked on the communicator and tried to get Finn to respond. It took a few attempts, but finally she could hear the crackle and Finn's voice on the other end. She explained to him what had happened, and that they were going back to see if they could find anything else out. There was a whole big area that had gone unexplored by them the night before, so maybe there was something there they had missed.
Finn said that Rose hadn't had any luck with the Falcon, and they were going to try and hurry back before sun fell.
The door to the temple opened for them with ease, and they dropped their packs again, beginning a long search through the twisty corridors of the place. Rey could tell that it was an old place, back even before Luke Skywalker, back even before even Obi-Wan. Rey knew little about the Jedi order, but she felt it in her bones. Ben seemed to feel the same, and without speaking they came to a silent decision to stick together. There were offshoots, hallways that lead into more bunks, more mess halls, more libraries.
Strategically, they went room by room, trying to see if anything stood out. Thus far, it felt as if the girl had been misleading them. Maybe it was all big a trap. Eventually, they came on a door that didn't open. It was a surprising thing, it seemed to be made of the same technology as the other doors, which Rose had somehow dealt with the night before. They stood in front of it, and Rey pressed her ear against it. At first, there was nothing, but then she realized she could hear small whispers. She couldn't make anything out of them, nothing that made sense, anyway.
Ben did what he was good at. She heard his saber flash on and she was forced to stand back as he began hacking away at the panel, hoping that with enough destruction the door would open to them. Rey saw the sparks fly, and wondered how much equipment he had destroyed in just this very same manner. Luckily for them, it worked, and the door slid halfway open, sparking occasionally. The space beyond was dark. Rey slid sideways through the small opening, and Ben followed, the light of the weapons the only thing that allowed them to see beyond. Even then, it seemed as if the darkness was a wet, living thing, swallowing up all light as quickly as it could.
It was a long hallway. It felt never ending. It also felt like they were being drawn along it. Rey heard the whispers grow in intensity, and thought she could catch snippets of words, but they were gone too quickly. At one point they became so overwhelming that Ben had to stop and put his hands over his ears. Finally, the hallway opened out into a big dark space. Rey looked around, confusion evident on her features as she realized where they were. It looked like some sort of green room. There were plants long rotted, some having dried up into skeletal remains of themselves - and she wondered what it was doing down here. Wasn't the point of a green room to allow sunlight for plants to grow?
It began to make sense, little by little. Whatever was being grown down here was not growing, without check, up there. The realization dawned on both of them, as surely as the sun rose.
"These are..." Ben paused, using the red light of the saber to examine the bits and pieces that were left behind. "Those vines," He finally said, turning to glance at Rey. "Were they growing them down here?"
"That would be the only reasonable explanation," She muttered, moving forward.
She was startled when she kicked over an empty pot, sending it clattering across the floor. She followed it, with the intention of picking it up. As the light threw itself across the wall, she saw dark splotches of liquid, or what had once been liquid. Initially, she thought it was more of that goop from the vines, but when she got closer she realized it had a rusty red tint to it. Even long dried, she could smell the vague scent of copper there. She stood back, attempting to get a look at the whole wall.
"Ben," She said, her voice a mere whisper. She felt him next to her, his eyes following hers. "This is blood,"
A lot of blood.
The further they went into the darkness, the more of it there was, sending chills up and down Rey's spine. Whatever had happened here had not been good. Ben was a professed Jedi slayer himself, but even he seemed to think that it wasn't the Sith who had done this. Usually, they were much more efficient. Such a brutal mess had to be left behind by someone who didn't know what they were doing.
This time, it was Ben who kicked something in the dark. They both jumped back when they realized what it was, a skull awkwardly rolling to stop at the end of a pile of mummified or skeletal corpses. Rey gasped, turning her eyes away and clamping her hand over her mouth. She had seen death before, but not quite to this degree. Ben seemed unperturbed, but she could see in the glint of his eyes that this was concerning, even to him.
They were all adults, they could tell by the size of the skeletons. Some still had the rotting remains of robes hanging onto them, but a good deal of them had been remarkably well preserved down here. They no longer smelled of rot, and the dry air had made it much more likely to mummify them over anything. Rey leaned forward, examining all of the details that confirmed that these had in fact been Jedi.
It felt as if they were beginning to see the whole picture, but something was missing. What had the vines had to do with any of it? Was it the children who had been responsible for this, or the beast above?
Rey was glad when Ben grabbed her hand and they exited the place, feeling she could breathe again once they'd finally made it out of the never ending hallway. They both had to catch their breath, the presence down there so strangling. They were shocked, their eyes wide and their mouths open as they tried to catch their breath. It was amazing how something so terrible could happen on the edges of the galaxy and how no one would know about such a thing. If those vines clogged up their connection to the force, then she supposed it wasn't so out of order, but it was terrifying to consider.
She didn't want to die on this planet.
Neither did Ben.
this chapter fought me the whooole way. sorry it took me so long, but it's mostly because i believe i am the worst smut writer in history. i guess you'll have to tell me.
also, there's some spooky stuff too.
feedback/comments are always appreciated.
in fact, i live for them.
thanks for sticking with me!
p.s, obviously not wrapping this up in 10 chapters...probably more like 12 or 13, hope you ain't mad about it
