Training began at dawn the following morning. They worked hard, pushing their minds and bodies to the limit, feeling the deep burning and satisfaction that comes with overexerted muscles. And with every passing second, Rey could feel the Force growing inside of her, becoming stronger, ready to be unleashed using careful control or, as Ren would prefer given the advantage of instant gratification, in an explosive outburst of raw emotion.

She hadn't returned to the bedroom after the odd encounter with Kylo Ren the night before. She had been rather confused and way too furious to stomach his presence, much less share a cot with him. So she had dozed on and off by the incandescent ashes of the hearth, wondering how much longer it would take them to get off that rock, fearing they might be in for the long haul.

So, it suited her just fine that they hadn't spoken two words to each other during their arduous morning training. Even later at breakfast, the tension between them could be cut with a knife. Mac was discrete enough to pretend it wasn't there, but Nia kept looking at Kylo Ren with an accusatory frown, as if she had made up her mind as to who was at fault for the stiffness in the room. Not that he noticed, nor cared about, the weight of the blame as his fingers fiddled once again with that bright red gem that had fascinated him the day before. His interest, apparently, paled in comparison to that of Nia's, who kept eyeing the gem, alternating between zealous curiosity over the stone and condemning glares in Ren's direction.

"A troop of monties will be stopping by after high noon," Mac said casually after gulping down an entire cup of bantha's milk. "They'll be bringing a coupla of things that I'm sure belong to you."

Ren's interest was visibly piqued by the comment, but he remained silent. The crossguard lightsaber hadn't been returned to him yet, and Rey knew his patience had been stretched to the limit on that count. It wouldn't have been long before he set out to get it himself in a manner that might have been far from diplomatic, so the news came as a relief to her—and perhaps everyone else in that room. To her surprise, he hadn't attempted to recover Luke's lightsaber. Sure, she had kept it on her the entire time since they left the cell the day before, but he hadn't even so much as hinted at retrieving it.

"Is there any way to send a signal into orbit from here?" Ren asked, though Rey could tell he pretty much knew the answer to that one. They both did.

"There used to be," Mac shrugged. "Before The Order destroyed our communications center downtown. Now all those devices are a useless heap of metal and wire. But you're welcome to go check them out if you're so inclined."

"Do you ever get any visitors here?" Ren inquired, his voice impassive.

"Not the type you'd want to stay for tea, if you know what I mean," the old man answered darkly. "O'course, every once in a while we get an unfortunate couple unlucky enough to have crashed on this remote rock."

The old man's joke fell quite flat considering the direness of their situation. So, as predicted, their chances of getting off that moon any time soon were slim to none. Still, someone was bound to look for them, if not on the part of the Resistance, then the Order. From what little Rey knew about supreme leader Snoke, he wasn't about to give up on his golden boy so easily. He'd been indoctrinating Ben Solo practically from birth, it was unlikely he'd let the efforts of a lifetime go to waste on a single incident and, as ill-fated as that silver lining appeared to be, it was Rey's only hope to get out of that desolate place at all.

Her eyes travelled to Kylo Ren, who was absently staring into his now empty cup, pondering on the exact same thing while he tapped the red gem gently over the wooden table. Nia sat across from them. She was organizing her board game, placing every peg and every gem in their designated spot with methodical calculation—pegs first, then gems, from almost white to yellow to dark orange. Then on to the colder colors: greens, turquoises, blues… All shades ranging from lightest to darkest, all set in their rightful place. All shades… except red. Once again the girl sent a wistful glance over to Kylo's fidgety fingers, roamed fleetingly over the gem before turning her attention back to the game.

"How do you get those canyon miners to work for you?" Rey asked Mac, intrigued by the symbiotic relationship they seemed to share.

"They are natural hunters," Mac explained, "but we control the water. There are subterranean springs running below us. We have the technology to tap into them through a series of wells built several years back. It only rains a few days a year now, but this moon was probably a fertile land once upon a time."

"Those creatures inside the cells…" Rey wondered.

"Food, of course!" Mac answered matter-of-factly. "As you would've been had it not been for a lucky twist of fate."

"I highly doubt it," Ren growled with unconcealed haughtiness.

"Ah, yes…" Mac nodded. "Well, perhaps Force sensitive folk might be spared. As for the rest of us mortals, it is a good thing we can rely on the necessity of a commodity such as water for our survival."

"Well, I'm thankful for the vegetable garden out back," Rey said, disgusted by the thought of ever eating another dead creature for as long as she lived. "Back in Jakku where I grew up we had—"

The sound of a flock of roaring engines brought whatever she was going to say to a halt. She was about to ask Mac if the canyon miners had access to ground vehicles, speed racers by the sound of it, when she noticed the face of the old man was completely drained of color and his eyes overgrown with fear.

"Hurry!" Mac said to Rey as he stood up in a haste. "Take Nia and hide in the back!"

"What? Why?"

Kylo Ren appeared to be as puzzled as Rey, their frown mirroring each other's.

"DO AS I SAY!"

But it was already too late. A group of about eight thugs dressed in dark suede and well-worn leather entered the hut armed with guns, oversized knives and blasters. Their leader, by the looks of it, sported a nasty scar across his face, not unlike Kylo Ren's, except not as neatly drawn, and the obvious cause of his missing left eye.

"I see the family keeps growing, Mac," he rasped, his tone mocking. Then, eyeing Rey as a monty might look at a fresh piece of meat, he added, "I like what I see."

His malicious smile revealed a set of rotten teeth that made Rey almost gag. He approached her, eyes roaming up and down her entire body appreciatively, before turning to Mac once again.

"Where's my bounty?" he asked, calmly pacing around the room.

"We have a few barrels in the back," Mac said, failing to conceal the anxiety in his voice. "Take whatever you want and go!"

The thug's smile broadened as he walked over to where Rey stood with her fists clenched at her sides.

"Whatever I want?"

Kylo Ren observed the scene quietly, way more relaxed than the situation warranted. And, when the leader of the pack grabbed Rey by the arm, pulling her hard into an unwanted embrace, Ren stopped Mac from intervening when the old man made an attempt to rush to her aid.

Another hoodlum went to pull Nia from behind the only pillar in the room where she had tried to hide, shoving her harshly to the ground and grinning at his boss for silent permission.

"Nia!" Mac cried. But, the moment he tried to help the defenseless girl, he sustained a blow to the stomach, inflicted by a third thug who rushed over to stop him.

"What about you, tough guy?" the leader said to Ren. "Are you gonna try somethin' funny, or would you rather sit back an' enjoy the show?"

Kylo Ren's gaze moved over to Rey, who stared back at him with anger and disgust.

He really isn't going to lift a finger, she realized, rage building like hot lava.

A slow smile formed on Ren's lips, serene and enigmatic. "I think it's going to be quite a show," he answered sounding more amused than anything else, and multiplying Rey's fury by about a thousand.

The ruffians seemed initially taken aback by his nonchalance, but then their attention turned back to their victims, deeming the tall, dark haired man a null threat, yet still keeping at least four blasters trained on him just in case.

Nia's whimper broke the momentary silence, and the one eyed man moved in to take his coveted prize. Rey, however, refused to be bullied by a bunch of inbred low lives. Instinctively, she sprang into action, her elbow connecting with the thug's stomach in one vicious blow, making him double over in pain and surprise. A second later, two of his lackeys practically jumped on top of her to prevent any further retaliation, only to find themselves on the ground with a broken nose and a broken clavicle respectively. The leader of the pack, recovering from shock and shaking with anger, lashed out against her with all his strength, missing his target by an inch when Rey swiftly swirled around and managed to hit him square on the temple with the first clay cup she snatched from the table.

It was only when she discovered from the corner of her eye that one of the thugs had climbed on top of Nia that she froze, the terror rippling through the child hitting her like a shot in the stomach. Her momentary hesitation allowed one of the bulkier thugs to grab her from behind and, to her utter frustration, finally managed to immobilize her.

"Let her go!" she warned the man who was pinning Nia down on the floor with his weight.

A roar of laughter boomed throughout the living area—the disturbing cacophony of the depraved. Mac kept trying to crawl over to the girl, kept getting kicked down with every attempt to reach her. Kylo Ren stood motionless to the side, a mere observer, unperturbed and impassive. The ire within Rey flickered hot red, burning with unprecedented intensity.

"I said, let her go!" she repeated darkly.

The tank of a man holding the girl's wrists with one hand looked up at her defiantly, a smirk twisting his ugly features. But then, in an instant, his expression changed from mocking to one of sheer and utter horror. He stood very still, looking into space as if he'd seen death itself coming to claim him. He convulsed once, and then started to gasp for air, clutching his throat as if that simple motion would make the task any less agonizing. The laughter that had lingered in the air a second before died down, giving way to a stunned silence only broken by the pathetic attempts by the distressed thug to get air into his lungs. Soon, those sounds also stopped, and the man slumped to the side like a heavy log.

His eyes were open, yet he saw nothing. He was dead.

Rey turned her attention to her next victim as she felt the power of the Force rush through her like never before. The rest of the group had retreated into the wall near the entrance, eyes and mouths wide open with shock and fear. It took a couple of seconds for the first one to react. He rushed out the door followed by a mob of his peers, pushing their way past the narrow entrance out into the canyon.

The last one wasn't fortunate enough to make it past the threshold, and found himself unable to command his legs to move, or even turn his head to see Kylo Ren approaching from behind.

"Where is your ship?!" Ren demanded.

"B—by the lowlands," the thug stuttered. "Ab—bout ten miles east of here."

The roaring of engines came to life as the rest of the group started their racers and sped down the canyon like bats out of hell. Rey was still reeling from the experience, her eyes trained on the man she'd just killed, terrified by the exhilaration that had washed over her as she had taken his life.

The Dark Side of the Force was indeed a powerful drug.

"Your friends will not wait for your return," Ren told the thug with a tinge of disappointment. "You're of no use to me."

With those words the other man began to choke, eyes bulging as he stared at his executioner in a panic during the last few seconds of his life. After a handful of agonizing gasps, his knees buckled and his inert body dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

Ren then turned to the others in the room, eyebrow arched.

"Tell your monties dinner's on us."

Rey had spent the rest of the day in a daze. She still didn't have an accurate grasp of exactly what had happened, or how she had managed to exert such power over another person's life. She was still shocked as to how she had been able to simply will someone to die just as easily as watching a multi-nutrient portion rise from a watered down powder. It wasn't right, and yet, it was the most incredible feeling she had ever experienced.

A powerful drug…

Nia had been sitting in a corner by the fire since the incident that morning. Mac had tried to get her to eat something, but the child had refused, opting instead to stare at the dancing flames for most of the day, numb and unmoving. On her part, Rey had switched from anger to confusion to regret and back to anger for hours. In the end, she blamed Kylo Ren for the whole fiasco.

He could've stepped in! It shouldn't have happened the way it did!

Ren had left right after the home invasion and been gone ever since. At sundown, Rey finally went in his search, infused by rage and the untamable desire to give him a piece of her mind. As she had suspected, she found him leaning against the same rock where he'd been sitting the last time and, once again, the dying rays cast a reddish glow over him.

"You bloody bastard!" she snarled, coming to a halt in front of him and standing as tall as she could. "You wanted me to tap into the Dark Side! You knew I wouldn't have any other choice!"

He looked at her tiredly for a moment, and a thin smile stretched across his face. "A Jedi always has a choice. Didn't Skywalker pound that concept into your mind ad nauseam?"

"Don't you dare patronize me! I… I wished a man dead and it happened!" she shouted furiously. "I killed him without even laying a hand on him!"

"And now here you are," he sighed dejectedly, "blaming me for what you perceive as a shortcoming."

Rey clenched her fists tightly. "A shortcoming? I can't believe you'd—"

"Go away, Scavenger!" he growled. He raked a hand through his hair and, sounding a bit less impatient, he added, "Look, I need to be alone right now."

Something wasn't right. She expected to pick up a victorious vibe from him, or even one of self-righteousness, but all she perceived was a deep sense of… shame… regret… failure…?

No. She had to be reading him wrong.

"Stop it…" he whispered, and Rey realized she had been openly surfing his mind.

"I thought you'd be pleased," she said, unsure as to why she even bothered to reason with him. "You finally got what you wanted."

He nodded slowly, his gaze set on the horizon. "The path into the Dark Side is plagued with bitter milestones."

He had uttered the words quietly, as if to himself.

Rey's perplexity surged. "I… I don't understand."

"No. You wouldn't."

It was strange. She didn't set out to search his thoughts, and yet, they somehow materialized in her mind, out of the blue, his guard down, no barriers to stop her from looking past the indifferent façade. What she saw made her stomach tighten and her heart clench.

"It pained you," she whispered in surprise. "Watching me use the Dark Side of the Force made you feel scared and worried for me!"

Ren shifted against the rock, his gaze downcast. "The Dark Side comes at a high price," he said listlessly. "It can be ruthless and excruciating. I guess I didn't want you to…" He was clearly struggling to get the words out, battling with an avalanche of conflicting emotions. In the end, the scale tilted to the side of the unexpected. "You can still turn away from it."

The statement came out reluctantly, but he obviously meant every word. It wasn't a trick or a gimmick. He was speaking from the heart, his emotions bare for Rey to see. He was extending an olive branch to her, one she would be foolish to refuse.

"You can turn away from it too," she assured him. "There's still light in you, I can feel it. I can see it!"

He let out a bitter chuckle saturated with grief and remorse, his answer lost in that noncommittal gesture.

"Ben…"

The moment she called his name she felt the sudden pang of guilt piercing through his chest, sharp as a spear. Rey went to stand in his line of vision, but he kept his gaze low, refusing to make eye contact.

"Look at me," she said softly.

It took him a couple of seconds and all of his inner strength to meet her eyes, and the conflict and suffering she saw in those hazel depths caused her to draw in a quiet breath. He looked lost, haunted by tortuous images and memories wished forgotten, but that kept lingering in his mind, gliding in the darkest corners of his thoughts like ghosts.

"It's too late." He repeated the words he had told his father right before driving a lightsaber through his chest. It had been the truth then, and it was even more so now. "I've destroyed too many lives… He promised it would get easier, that once I took that final step these feelings would cease, that I would no longer be drawn to the light, but he was wrong. Killing my f… him only made me feel emptier. The pull to the light is still there, still out of reach."

"Why are you fighting it?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Because darkness is all I have left." He was once again unable to meet her eyes. He paused, lost in a memory for a long moment, guilt ridden and at a loss for words. "There's no turning back now. You of all people should realize that."

She wanted to tell him that it was all in the past, that he could change his destiny if he really wanted to, but she didn't really believe it to be true. He was right. Too much had happened. Too much destruction. Too much pain and suffering had been inflicted.

Too much darkness unleashed…

And yet, as she stood before him and studied him carefully, head bowed and suffocating under those life-altering memories, Rey couldn't help but see him as another victim in his own tragic story.

Bring him back…

"Han never stopped believing in you," she told him. "His love for you never truly died."

When he refused to acknowledge her words, she placed the palm of her hand on his cheek, prompting him to look at her face in hopes he would see the truth in her eyes. Instead, she saw his brimming with unshed tears.

"I no longer have the strength to fight it," he choked out. "I keep hoping for the light to fade, but it never does. Sometimes I think things would be easier if I just…"

He didn't finish the thought. He didn't have to. Rey knew where his thoughts had travelled and bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

No… He wouldn't take the coward's way out.

"You know that's not the answer," she said through a lump in her throat.

"Isn't it?"

He offered her a sad smile that she didn't return. Horrified, she simply shook her head slowly from side to side, not trusting her own voice. It was strange how a week ago she would have felt completely differently about that option, and now… Rey wiped her left eye just in time to catch a salty drop from trailing down her cheek.

"Are those tears for me?" he asked softly. And though she thought for a moment he might be mocking her, his expression was solemn, almost tender. "The monster who abducted you?"

Her lips curled into a watery smile. "Life is full of surprises, I guess," she replied, unable to deny it.

A strange sense of need descended upon both, raw and primal—an invisible blanket that pulled them together like opposite poles on a magnet. Neither bothered to fight it and, in that surreal moment, their lips met.

A spark ignited deep below Rey's belly at that instant. It shot right to her nerve endings making her entire body vibrate and her skin tingle. She was surprised by the softness of his lips, the tenderness of the kiss, the gentle hand that had come to rest by the side of her neck, the thumb that brushed her cheek with feathered strokes. They allowed for that initial indecision to linger, letting the moment build on its own with exquisite slowness.

It was Rey who finally deepened the kiss, craving the warmth and taste of his mouth, slightly sweet, slightly musky, distinctively dark. He responded to her in kind, his tongue as playful as her demands in that game that had drowned all their differences in a sea of unexpected passion.

A deep moan escaped from Rey's throat, and she pressed her body against him, needing to seal the short distance between them.

As if burned by a hot rod, he sharply pulled back, breaking the kiss and keeping her at arm's length.

"Stop…" he panted, his cheeks flushed.

Her arousal turned to confusion. "Stop?"

He was regarding her through thick lashes, a dreamy look that managed to melt away the last remnants of the frozen barrier she'd erected when around him. Their faces were still inches apart, his warm breath caressing her lips as he struggled to grasp at the last vestiges of self-restraint.

"I can't do this, Rey."

Rey…

Hearing her name on his lips—the emotion behind his plea—brought a sudden lump to her throat and her eyes began to burn once again.

"But… you kissed me last night."

"That wasn't me," he assured her. "Nor was it a kiss, it was a provocation. This… this is different."

Rey bit her lower lip, her mind trying hard to understand his reasoning, to understand him!

"What are you so afraid of, Ben?"

He regarded her quietly for several seconds, the reddish reflection of the disappearing suns making his eyes sparkle in golden tones. His answer hovered in the cool evening air, swirled around them to the tune of the light breeze.

"Of what I'm beginning to feel for you."

[TBC…]