She had spent a week in the monster's cage.

But she could have left anytime she wanted to.

For the cage was not meant to imprison her.

She could have left within hours after her capture but she was drawn to him, the monster that was trapped. He's been in his cell far too long that he doesn't see how big the spaces were in between the bars - how easy it was for him to slip through the cracks and crawl out. He was too far gone to understand sense and so for that week she spoke to him with emotion. For that week in the base she let herself feel weakness. She let herself feel attachment towards the tortured monster. For every night after the third day, he went to her. He came to her in a worn out state, he may have seemed strong but emotionally he crawled to her and wrapped himself in her warmth.

He sees this now, sees this strength in her that was beyond him. Sees that for she doesn't question where they were going. She was at ease, at peace.

She knows the power she has over him while it took him until now to see it.

Where do you go from now?

That was something he had always forgotten to ask himself. With every brash decision, the more he felt lost and uncertain of his future.

You killed them, Ben. You killed all your classmates, where do you go from now?

You killed your father, Kylo. You killed him, took the light away from your mother, where do you go from now?

You severed your ties with Snoke for this girl. Where do you go from now?

How do you feel about me, he wanted to ask her. But he doesn't. Instead he's flying the ship, going further and further away but he doesn't know where to go. She's right beside him, sitting in silence. She's calm while the world he knew for thirteen years was falling apart, slipping through his fingers.

"Where do you go from now?" she asked him. There's assertion in her tone, steadiness. He blinked at her in fascination. This girl, she purposely let herself into his cage - let herself be in his grasp - groomed him, show humanity to him. He should have known since the first time he captured her, she escaped within a few hours after regaining consciousness. He should have accounted her capabilities, her fast mind.

"I don't know," he swallowed hard. The words were like cancer to him. "All my life I've doing what I've been told."

"So have I," she said gently.

Kylo's eyes widened to the realization. This girl, she had stayed to play with him. She played by his rules and waited until he ended the game.

"But things are different now," she said then. "You're older. You're wiser. You're defiant," she echoed his words. He sees it - that small smile forming from the corner of her lips. Her eyes were shiny, glossy. Heavy. Tempting him. Tempting him to do intimate and explicit acts with her. Straying him. Straying him away from his monster form. "What do you fight for? Do you fight for good or do you fight for solitude?" Rey doesn't even give him the option of the darkness for he had untangled himself from it.

He doesn't know what to say and so he doesn't say a word.

"Where do you want to go?" she asked then. "Do you want to part ways so you can be alone to find yourself-

"I want to go with you," he said before she could finish her sentence. And just like that, he slips back on to his monster skin, submersing himself into his desire to possess her - own her. He had been away from her for such a long time that he craved her. Wanted her. "I want to go wherever you go."

His eyes darkened and so did hers.

"I must warn you," he began slowly. He shifted gears as the island was becoming closer and closer. "They will not accept me."

"You freed me," she reminded him.

"You didn't need to be saved," he countered. "I know that, you know that, and they know that." Rey had been picking locks since she was left on Jakku. She had been picking them for as long as she could remember. She picked any lock whenever she saw any woman locked up in a cage before they could be sent off to be a sex slave. Hell, she even got herself out of several cages when she got older to escape the same intended fate.

"You could have killed me," she said then. "You were supposed to but you didn't." She had read his memories last night, replayed them countless times as she cut his hair. She reached to touch a freshly trimmed lock. Her eyes flickered. The years under Snoke's leadership did a number on his body. Even though he was muscular and toned, he had let himself go. He rarely slept and the years of being in turmoil had aged him immensely. Poe was older but he looked more youthful than Kylo. Cutting his hair helped him looked younger but she wasn't satisfied. For cutting his hair did not cut away his past. "I won't let them keep you in a cell."

"I won't let them either way." He paused as a million thoughts swarmed his one track mind. "They won't trust me, let alone trust me to fight alongside with them. The most I can be is your shadow."

"Shadow?"

"I'll stand by you. I'll go wherever you will go."

His words warmed her heart. That was all she wanted, someone to be with her. To never leave her. "Will you ever leave me again?" she asked as he landed the ship.

"I don't think I can."