He was floating in and out of consciousness, too tired to open his eyes, but the pain below his ribs keeping him from slumber. Caught in the dark between sleep and wakefulness, he latched on to the sounds around him. The soft clinking of glass shards, the rustle of rope, the clanking of metal, the artificial ringing, a low, tinny voice speaking softly.
"Hey, sunshine, can I call you back? I'm kind of in the mid-"
"Poe." Her voice, full of fear and urgency, made him ache to calm her, to let her know not to worry, but his mouth seemed a thousand miles away. "I need help."
The man's demeanor instantly changed to one of alert concern, and Kylo felt a bit of jealousy. "Where?"
"The old theater. On 28th."
"Be there in ten."
"Can you make it five?" She asked with a slight tremor as he felt a gentle touch on his forehead.
"Done. Back?"
"Side. Alley looks onto Cypress."
"See you in four."
The pain in his side spiked as Rey tried to move him, and he let out an involuntary cry.
"I know, Ben, I know. I'm sorry, but we have to move." She told him, shrugging herself under his shoulder, repeating the mantra desperately as he tried to take as much of his own weight as possible.
Several agonizing minutes (or was it hours?) later, they were outside (near a dumpster, if the smell was any indication), raindrops starting to fall in a way that numbed his body but banked the fire by his hip.
Eventually, he heard loud squealing tires, then she let him lay down on something firm and smooth.
"Jesus, Rey, what happened?" Poe asked as the engine revved, the sudden movement rolled Kylo forcefully back against the seat, where he winced in pain.
"Buy went bad," she bit out.
"No shit!"
Kylo felt himself slide to the left, only to bump up against something soft and warm.
"Wait a- Shit, is that Kylo Ren? Rey, I don't have a mask on or anything! And he's bleeding all over my upholstery! I just got this thing-"
"Poe, we need to get him to Chirrut and Baze's." Rey interrupted, applying pressure to his side as he grimaced. "They're over on Aspen and-"
"I know where they live, sunshine, but I'd kinda like to live myself!"
There was silence, then a quiet, subdued, "Please."
Poe let out a frustrated groan, then turned sharply, sliding Kylo away from his warm pillow and the comfort of her hands, and into the release of sleep.
Thunder snapped him awake, and his eyes cracked open enough to realize the storm was actually Rey, pounding frantically on a red door.
"Go away!" Came the angry command from the other side.
"Baze, it's me. Please." Rey called, and Kylo wondered if she knew just how powerful that 'please' of hers was.
The door swung open to reveal the two older Asian men from the dojo. The ones who taught Rey. The ones he had threatened all that time ago. That had summarily kicked him out of the building.
Maybe they wouldn't recognize him.
Baze narrowed his eyes. "What is he doing here?"
Nevermind.
"He is hurt," the other man said, his tone an odd mix of concern and curiosity as his milky blue eyes seemed to discern far more than Kylo was comfortable with. "Bring him to the back room."
Turning in surprise, Baze frowned at the other man, and Kylo could just make out the silent conversation going on between head tilts and slight gestures. With an annoyed grunt, Baze waved them in, and Kylo tried not to hiss in pain as Poe accidently bumped his wound against a vase.
Once they laid him down, Baze directed Rey and Poe to grab pillows while Chirrut appeared with cloths and a well stocked medical kit.
"Get his legs up and his shirt off. Rey, hold his head still, Poe, grab his legs." Baze commanded, and if Kylo's heart wasn't suddenly trying to pound its way out of his chest, he might have been concerned at the serious tone.
Soft fingers threaded anxiously through his hair as a stinging antiseptic ran across his wound, then a forceful weight pressed down on his side. Crying out in pain, he tried to curl up into the fetal position, but something stopped his legs from moving.
"Why is he so cold?" Rey asked, her voice wavering as she put warm hands to his face.
"He's going into shock," Chirrut told her as he knelt and starting humming a strange tune.
"What does that mean?!" She started to shout, then modulated her voice to a terrified whisper as Chirrut placed a hand on her arm.
"It means his body is losing oxygen," Baze grumbled as he added another another dressing on top of the first one, already soaked with red. "And we need the blood to clot."
Kylo could feel Rey's hands tremble by his temples, and he want to hold them steady, but his arms felt encased in concrete, and he was just so dizzy and tired…
"Speak to him." Chirrut said abruptly, then continued his wordless song.
A wet drop hit his forehead.
"What?"
"He's fading. Give him something to focus on. Talk to him."
"About what?"
"Anything. But hurry."
Kylo wished the old man would stop humming. It crept into his ears and his body and made his heart pound more. If it stopped, maybe it'd be quieter, and he could finally get some sleep.
"Do you know how to break into a safe?" She asked him, and if his eyes were open, he would have blinked in surprise.
Luke had taught him, of course, but he was rusty. And had never really liked the way Luke had phrased it, so he pointedly tried to forget.
But he had a vision of Rey in that white dress, pressing her ear to the cold steel safe, red lips smiling as her fingers delicately shifted the dial.
He couldn't speak, but he tilted his head up a fraction of an inch, trying to listen over Chirrut's singing and Baze's muffled mutterings.
Taking a slightly shocked breath at his movement, Rey swallowed and continued, "Well, first you have to take into consideration the make and model. Each company designs the locks a bit differently, and every model likes to show off their latest advances. Now, all this means that you have to take your time with the safe. Say hello, get to know her a bit. If she's a dignified lady, maybe a few rust spots here and there, she may not have all the fancy trappings of the newest versions, but she's got her own secrets. There was this one Glenn-Rieder Prestige from the 1920's that I - hythopetically - broke into a few years back…"
She kept up a stream of one-side conversation as Chirrut fed him some pills and foul-tasting tea, as his pain slowly numbed, as precise, sharp pinpricks marched along his side, Baze's large hands oddly deft with the small needle.
He felt the tension in the room relax as Baze pressed a clean dressing to to wound, then sat back with a sigh.
"It is done. It will be up to him now."
The hold on his legs released as Poe stood and walked over to Rey.
"Baze, we are not quite finished," Chirrut corrected quietly.
The bigger man frowned. "Oh?"
"Shit!" Poe hissed in sudden horror. "Rey, what happened to your back?"
Kylo shifted his head a millimeter in a vain attempt to see what Poe was talking about.
"Oh, I… I might have crashed through a window earlier. And um… landed on some glass."
Poe blanched as he examined her back. "Did an elephant land on you?! Some of these look an inch deep!"
"Well, I was trying to get both of us away from Plutt, and Ben was hurt, so I had to carry him…"
Everyone in the room turned to look at Kylo's six foot frame while Kylo wished he could simply disappear.
"That'll do it," Baze said flatly. "Lay down, mei-mei."
"I actually don't feel that well-" Rey started, then her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fell to the floor.
"Rey!" Poe shouted, and while Kylo wanted nothing more than to bat the man aside and pick Rey up himself, darkness brought on from the tea and medicine chose that moment to swallow him.
…
He was so tired. All he wanted to do was stay here, in the comfort of night, and sleep forever.
But something called him to wakefulness.
He tried to push it away, but it insisted. It kept poking and prodding him to open his eyes, to listen, to hear.
He didn't want to. It'd be so easy to just rest in the darkness, to keep his eyes closed and his mind drifting.
A pained cry came distantly across the nothingness. Then another.
He couldn't ignore that voice. Couldn't help but try and find its source.
With a monumental effort, he cracked one eyelid open in time to hear Rey let out a short, muffled scream into a pillow.
She was lying on her stomach, head buried into a throw pillow, her back bare except for the hundreds of small red lines, glistening the the light. His heart dropped when he realized the glittering was from shards of glass embedded in her skin.
Baze dropped the bit of glass into a bowl next to him, then cleaned the tweezers with rubbing alcohol before moving on to the next cut as Poe shifted the magnifying glass over. Chirrut gently rested one hand on her head, still singing, as Rey jerked and yelped.
His entire body felt like lead, but he shifted his hand bit by bit, dragging his arm along by his fingers, until he reached Rey's head. He touched her forearm in a silent question, which she answered by pulling her hand out from under the pillow and clutching his fingers tightly.
He didn't notice Poe's confused frown, or Baze's narrowed eyes, or even Chirrut's quiet smile. All Kylo cared about was her grip on his palm, how her cries grew softer, how his thumb made small, soothing circles across the back of her hand, how finally at the end, as Baze's tweezers clattered into the bowl and he and Poe began applying antibiotics and bandages, her shallow gasps finally evened out into deep, restful breaths, meaning he could slip back to sleep too.
…
After what felt like both too long and not long enough, Kylo slowly blinked his eyes open and looked around.
He was on a futon, his legs scrunched up a bit to fit, with a soft blanket on top of his bare chest. Frowning at the lack of a shirt, he tried to stretch, then instantly curled up in pain. Peeking under the blanket, he saw a line of bright red blood appear on the white bandage, protesting his movement.
Snatches of memories came back to him. The roof. Shouting at her to wait. Telling her it was a trap.
Her hazel eyes as she asked why he came.
The terror on her face.
Unkar Plutt.
The fight. Her hand leaving a burning imprint on his thigh.
Fire blazing under his side.
Crashing through the window. The criss-cross of cuts on her bare back.
Because of him.
A soft snore came from his left, and he froze as he realized Rey was sleeping on her own futon beside his.
Inches away.
Still holding his hand.
Gingerly, he tried to pull his hand out of her grip, only to have her grunt sleepily and jerk it closer to her face, leaving him trapped. After debating his nonexistent options, Kylo gave up with a quiet sigh and turned to study her face in the dim light.
Freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks, the corners of her mouth were constantly poised to tug upward in a smile, even in her sleep. The apples of her cheeks were dusted with pink, while her nose turned up impishly, her chin was stubborn and her eyebrows seemed ever ready to arch wryly at him.
The image of her wielding her bo staff flashed across his mind, where her strength and beauty and power all merged into a fearsomely awe-inspiring woman.
Who had risked everything to save him.
Thinking back, he realized that the reason they had swung in a perfect arc instead of plummeting straight down was because she had secured her rig to the rooftop of the next building. He couldn't help a small smile. Of course she would have an exit plan. Probably had one or two extras, just in case.
None of which would have accounted for a near comatose, six foot passenger.
She could have escaped at any point. When he burst onto the roof. The second Unkar showed up. When his men moved toward her with knives and murderous intent.
But she didn't. She had stayed and fought beside him. With him.
For him.
No one had ever done that before.
His mother, his father, Luke, Snoke. None of them had ever risked anything for him. They all used him for their own purposes, their own egos. He had learned quickly that this was simply the way the world worked. If he wanted to do anything, be anyone, he needed to step on others to get there.
And yet...
An incoherent mumble drew his gaze back to Rey, who nuzzled his hand with a contented sigh that twisted something deep inside him.
Her world worked… differently, somehow. He was by every account, her enemy. He was actively hunting her, trying to capture her, reclaim what she stole. But she had tried to protect him. Rescue him. Save his life.
None of it made any sense. Why would she risk anything for him? Risk him knowing her friends, her safe havens, all so he could… what? Heal up and hunt her again, but with better information?
The smallest part of him knew that something had changed the night he had called her. Talked to her more honestly than he had spoken to anyone in a long, long time. There was something in her voice, in her eyes that beckoned to him. Made him want…
Made him want to feel. To want something more.
He knew all this was wrong. She shouldn't have so much power over him, to increase his heart rate, to compress his lungs, to tie his stomach into knots whenever he thought about her, whenever he got close to her.
Like now.
A voice that sounded suspiciously like Snoke told him that this was all foolishness, weakness, sentiment. That she would take every advantage to defeat him, to ruin him, to end him.
But here, in the shelter of darkness, he could shove the voice away. He could reach out, hesitantly, tentatively, reverently, and trace the curve of her face, just brushing his fingertips across her temple and tucking in a stray hair behind her ear.
And if when he slept, he dreamed of what might have been, well, no one was there to see.
…
"Good morning, mei-mei," a cheerful voice greeted softly, calling Kylo to half-wakefulness.
"Morning Chirrut," Rey answered with a quiet yawn.
"Tea?"
"Oh, yes please." She sipped the drink and let out a contented sigh.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better. Thank you both so much again."
"Pssh." Although his eyes were closed, Kylo could almost see Chirrut's dismissive wave. "You are family. In our lives, we are called to defend our honor and our family. This is all we can do."
He could hear the smile in Rey's voice. "Wise words."
"Wise man," Chirrut joked back, and she giggled as she sipped her tea.
Heavy footsteps came into the room, and Baze's low rumble asked, "How is our patient?"
Rey sighed. "I think he's alright. He's been sleeping fairly peacefully, so that's good, right?"
The man hummed in agreement. "He should be able to go home soon."
"Anything I should watch for?"
Kylo's ears perked up a bit at the assumption she was coming with him.
"He might have a fever for a few days, but if it gets above 102, he needs to go to a hospital."
"Got it."
"And you'll need to change your bandages regularly. Most of the cuts are shallow, but you still need to watch for infection."
"I will. Thank you again, Baze."
"Thank us by getting better. And not crashing through any more windows," he grumbled, and even Kylo heard the affection behind his tone.
"I'll do my best," Rey smiled, and Baze humphed as he collected the tea cups and walked down to the kitchen.
Once the footsteps had faded, Chirrut spoke quietly. "Rey. Why did you bring him here?"
"I… I knew you could help," Rey answered eventually, caught off guard by the question.
"Hm. Not false, but not true." Chirrut commented wryly. "And the real reason?"
"I…" Rey started to protest, then sighed. "If I took him to a hospital, I… I'd have to leave him." Kylo felt a light hand brush against his forehead as she continued in a quiet confession, "I didn't want to leave him alone."
"Ah," the man responded in satisfaction. "The truth needs air and light to grow, Rey. Only then can it bloom."
They sat in silence for a minute, then Rey ventured softly, "You said before you sensed darkness in him. Is it still there?"
Chirrut hummed a little, and Kylo felt an odd tingling above his chest that he wasn't sure he liked.
"Yes," he answered, and Rey let out a small, sad sigh before Chirrut continued, "But there is light as well, such as was not there before. They war in his heart, divide his thoughts, conflict his purpose."
Almost as if she was holding her breath, Rey asked, "Can you tell which will win?"
"Only he knows. He is the one to decide his own fate - it cannot be done for him."
A soft, defeated "Oh," sounded from next to him.
"But the light in him has grown, Rey. There's hope in that," Chirrut encouraged her gently. "And you know what I say about hope…"
Kylo could hear the smile in her voice as she whispered in response.
"Hope is all we have."