A/N: I just wanted to let you know that I've begun posting my Reylo Anthology story, 'Still', based on 'Pygmalion and Galatea'. I will update that story on Wednesdays and Fridays, while 'Thwarted' will continue to update on Mondays and Thursdays. Thank you!

Kylo approaches her quarters and is oddly nervous. Will the tentative peace of this morning hold? The stormtroopers part for him and he feels a bit silly knocking at her door. She opens it swiftly and they stand there, looking at each other for a long moment.

"Hi," Rey says awkwardly.

"Hello, Rey."

"Uhm, come in."

"Thank you." She steps back from the door and he enters. He removes his helmet quickly, placing it on the table he'd requested just for that purpose. She knows of the state of his hands, so he removes his gloves as well. She's standing next to him and gasps when she sees the mottled bruising along his fingers.

"Oh, Kylo …"

He turns to her and says, "It's nothing, do not concern yourself." He doesn't want to talk about how completely he had lost control.

Her eyes show her conflict, but she only nods.

"How … how did you spend your day?" he asks hesitantly. He's very aware of how near she is.

She almost looks guilty and he's instantly suspicious.

"Rey?"

"What?" she asks petulantly, looking at the floor.

"What have you done?"

"Nothing! Nothing." She looks up at him but doesn't quite meet his eyes.

"I do not believe you."

"Well I don't care! I didn't do anything. There's nothing to do." Rey stalks to the settee and sits in a huff.

He follows her to the seating area while saying, "There are numerous books, holos, your training room-"

"You don't get it, do you?" she interrupts.

"Clearly not."

"I'm trapped! I've never, in all of my life, had an entire day with literally nothing to do." She throws her hands up in frustration.

"But you don't need to do anything; you can do whatever you like." After a life of drudgery he had thought she would enjoy the freedom.

"No, I can't! I can do what you've prepared for me, and you certainly didn't ask me what I want."

"Fine, what do you want? Other than to go back to the Resistance." He sits beside her, but not too close―never too close. He won't risk losing her attention.

"I don't want to be trapped in these rooms! After one day I'm already beginning to lose my mind." She crosses her arms in front of her chest and looks away. "And I'm worried about my friends," she admits quietly.

"As you know, I let them go." Kylo does not like to think about her … friends; the people she chose to be with when she should have been with him.

She looks up sharply and says, "I don't even know who's alive! Leia, Poe … Finn."

Each name on her list fills him with greater fury. That woman, the arrogant 'best pilot in the Resistance' and, of course, Finn, the traitor. But he's determined not to lose his temper.

He controls himself as he offers, "I know that Leia Organa escaped with her life." Rey visibly relaxes. "I do not know the fate of the others. I … I will endeavor to discover that for you."

"How?" she asks as she narrows her eyes.

"We have an extensive spy network―how do you think I found you?" he says arrogantly. Her jaw clenches and he realizes he's already managed to say the wrong thing.

She takes a calming breath and says, "And it won't put them in danger, you looking into it?"

"No." Though he would like very much to endanger the traitor, he wisely keeps that to himself. "I will do what I can to find out what happened to your … friends." He cannot hide his distaste.

"Oh. Okay. Good." She nods to herself.

"As to how you fill your time, why not study, train? The library is full of Jedi texts, I made sure of it."

Her eyes fill with pain and she shakes her head furiously.

"What is it about your training that upsets you so? Please tell me. I cannot address it if I do not know what is wrong."

"No! I won't tell you anything that could harm the Resistance!"

"I trained with Skywalker for years; I already know all of his methods. You won't be betraying anything." Kylo hopes this will help her open up to him.

"I …" Rey's eyes drop to her hands. They flail helplessly.

"Please, please tell me. I hate knowing that you're so upset; I must know why," he entreats.

"I haven't," she nearly whispers.

"Haven't what?"

"I haven't been training!" Rey bursts out.

"But, why not?" he asks in confusion.

"Luke refused! I begged and I pleaded and he wouldn't show me anything. He would let me stay with him on Ahch-to, but nothing else. I would get so angry, eventually leave. Then I would go back every few months, try to get him to teach me something, anything, but all he would say was that he would never train anyone ever again. I assume that's your fault." Rey looks at him accusingly.

Kylo ignores the dig and focuses on Skywalker's failure. It does not surprise him.

"All this time, you've been alone with your gifts?" Oh, my love … you must have been so adrift.

"No, not completely." Her eyes flit to the side.

"What do you mean?" He sincerely hopes Leia Organa hasn't managed to unearth yet another thought-dead Jedi Master.

"You won't lose your temper; you won't yell at me?" Rey suddenly seems quite small and he's filled with regret for how he'd reacted to her the night before.

He decides he will apologize properly for his behavior. "I am sorry for that. I shouldn't have behaved the way that I did."

"No, you shouldn't have." She looks at him coldly. He wonders just how much damage he really did last night.

"Please, tell me what you meant. I won't lose my temper, I … I promise." Who is this man she pulls from deep within him?

She looks at him for a very long time, her eyes searching his. "Leia did what she could," she finally says.

Anger, swift and pulsing swells in his chest, but he keeps himself in check. He's not been here 10 minutes and she's already mentioned the Princess twice.

"I see," he says very carefully.

"No, you don't. Not really. When Luke refused me she was incensed on my behalf. She travelled to Ahch-To and tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't be moved. She said," Rey smiles as she remembers. "She said that if her idiot of a brother couldn't see what was right in front of him she'd just have to do it herself. So she showed me what she knew. I can levitate small things and heal minor wounds. But that's all." Her smile fades and she seems almost ashamed.

A memory comes for him then, sharp and searing, of … his mother healing a cut finger when he'd been very small. He had thought it was simply magical and he'd been in awe of her. He pushes it away quickly, focusing on what Rey has just said. Rey is so strong with the Force, brimming with such possibility. That she has been left to founder with only Leia Organa to show her the way ... it is unacceptable. He did not think he could hate Luke Skywalker more, but to find that he'd rejected Rey, hurt her … For so many reasons, he thinks it would be his pleasure to lock sabers with his failure of an uncle.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asks.

"Oh, because we're such great friends? You would have just wanted to train me in the dark side."

"No … I have no wish to change you, Rey." This is one of her many assumptions he has been hoping to address.

"You don't?" Her tone is bewildered.

"No, never," Kylo says firmly.

"But … you … you follow the dark side."

"I do, but … this Bond, it's unlocked so much within me, and I believe that it is because we are balanced. I have always been drawn to the light―always. But now, now I am drawn to you. Without your light, I don't know what I would do."

"You don't want to turn me to the dark side?" Rey's face is deeply puzzled.

"Have I ever said that I wanted that?" Oh Rey, there is so much you do not know.

"No, but … you told me that you would show me the ways of the Force."

"Precisely. The Force, not the dark side or the light side. How you access the Force makes no difference to me. I just … I just wanted you to stay. My … issues with Skywalker have never been about the light or the dark."

"Why did you do it; why did you betray your family?" she asks suddenly.

"It is they who betrayed me, Rey."

"I can't believe that, Leia would never do anything to her only child," Rey scoffs.

"And yet, she did." He's growing accustomed to that name falling so easily from his beloved's lips.

"No, I don't believe you." She's shaking her head.

"You did agree that you would listen to me, did you not?"

Rey glares at him. "Fine. Tell me your lies and I'll listen quietly."

"They aren't lies!" He takes a steadying breath then tries again. "I would like for you to understand how I came to be where I am. Please try to keep an open mind."

"... Okay."

"This will take quite some time. Perhaps we should order dinner, have some wine?"

"We must be civilized as you tell me your justification for murder and tyranny, mustn't we," she says sarcastically.

"Rey …"

Her face is mulish but she says, "Alright, I will 'try to keep an open mind'."

"What would you like for dinner?"

"I told you last night, I don't know enough to say."

"Is there anything at all that you've enjoyed since you left Jakku?" He just wants to give her something that will make her happy.

"I was simply grateful that they never let me starve. Trust me, I'm not picky," Rey says ruefully.

He closes his eyes briefly in pain. Her difficult life has taken so much from her. To not even have a favorite meal?

"There was nothing, nothing at all that pleased you?" Surely she must have some preference.

"It all pleased me, Kylo. It was food that I received every day regardless of if I spent the day on my back in the hangar, or with Leia learning. I went to bed every single night with a full belly, which was good enough for me. That was miraculous."

"Alright Rey … alright." He goes to the console by her door and repeats his actions of the previous night, selecting a meal he hopes she will like. He's saddened that she will not give him even this much, a simple hint of her tastes.

Again he walks to the cabinet and pulls out a bottle of wine, this one light with a touch of effervescence. She watches from her seated position as the pale lavender liquid fills her glass. He brings both glasses back to the settee and retakes his seat next to her, handing her her drink.

"This is from Gandran. They pick the fruit after the first frost. It's what gives it … well, you'll see." He doesn't want to spoil the surprise.

She holds his eyes as she takes her first sip and her brows shoot up. She smiles a bright, open, truly genuine smile. "It tickles!" she exclaims.

"Yes, it does a bit." He's smiling now, too.

"It feels like it's bursting in my mouth!"

"I'm glad you like it. You do, don't you? You like it?" he asks hopefully.

"Yes, I do … thank you."

He's not quite sure how to begin and he's so enjoying this moment with her, but he doesn't know how long he will have her patience.

"I know that you believe that the First Order is cruel, our methods extreme," he says. She doesn't respond, just purses her lips.

"What I would like for you to understand is that that is not how it will always be. Yes, we act swiftly, decisively. We do not allow for dissent."

"Or freedom," Rey says pointedly.

"Freedom is relative. Your life, you've described it as free, and yet from my point of view you were little better than a slave."

"No one owned me." Fire flashes in her eyes.

"Are you so sure? You never worked for wages, only food. Is that so different than being a slave? You had no ability to change professions, no opportunity to use that brilliant mind of yours."

"I could have joined on with a ship at any time."

"But what of those that do not have your talents? Or when you were a child? What made Unkar Plutt worthy of his place in power over all of you?" He turns his head slightly, watching for her reaction.

She blinks a bit then says, "But, if the First Order took over Jakku someone else would have just taken his place."

"No … no, that simply isn't true. Have you ever visited a First Order world?"

"No …"

"Once the fighting is done we move in and take over the industry, the economy, everything. We ensure that all are fed, clothed, and housed. Yes, those with much suffer greatly, but those with ability flourish and none are left to starve. If you had grown up on a First Order world you would have gone to school and you would have never known what it is to be hungry."

"After you kill anyone who disagrees with you," she says snidely.

"Yes. That is true. But to me it is a price worth paying." Surely she must see how her life would have been better?

"You're telling me that all the blood you've spilled is because you are so worried about children?" Her face is filled with disbelief. Rey leans forward and places her now empty glass on the low table in front of them. She trails her hand along the dozens of graceful orchids scattered along the surface. He can't help but imagine what those fingers would feel like running along his body, caressing him as they've caressed the delicate petals.

"It is part of it," Kylo says quietly, trying to keep his focus on what he is telling her and not on how much he wishes she would touch him.

"What's the rest?"

"Perhaps you know what happened when I was younger, when I was still Jedi?" His lip curls at the hated word.

"Yes. Leia told me," she answers cautiously.

"And what did she tell you?" He finds he's curious to know what it is that woman thinks of what she did to him.

"That she'd never revealed to you that she and Luke are Anakin Skywalker's children." He dislikes her use of his grandfather's birth name but he says nothing.

"What else?" Kylo prods.

"She said that when you found out, you felt betrayed and joined Snoke. She thinks you were trying to punish her."

Oh, that makes him angry. Punish her? What a petty, juvenile reason. "No. I was angry, yes. I did feel betrayed, not because she didn't tell me, but because of how she kept my grandfather from me."

"See, right there, how can you be proud to be Darth Vader's grandson?" Her eyes fill with scorn.

"And what do you know of him?" Kylo challenges.

"He was a murderous, cruel monster. Perhaps I'm beginning to see why you admire him."

"No! That is what the histories say, and as we know, history is written by the winners." Kylo looks into her eyes steadily.

"Fine, tell me about how Darth Vader was just horribly misunderstood," Rey says sarcastically as she sits back into the cushions.

"He was. He is." He pauses then, not sure how to frame his relationship with his grandfather. "Did you know he was a slave?"

"What? No … no I didn't know that." She looks away.

"Do you know how prevalent slavery is in this galaxy? How it was and is tolerated, even encouraged by both the Old and New Republic?" He tries to catch her eyes but she keeps them focused elsewhere.

"They're trying to fix that, Leia told me-"

"Oh yes, I'm sure she had many, many pretty explanations for why one sentient may own another and how it takes time. How you can't push people to change overnight. Or my personal favorite: that the economy cannot handle change on that scale. Since I became Supreme Leader, every new world that has come under our control is completely free of slavery, and we are working to end it throughout all First Order territory."

"Since you became Supreme Leader?" she asks curiously.

"Snoke … had other priorities."

"What do you mean?"

"He believed that it was more important to have as many worlds under our control as possible, to concentrate our resources on military expansion. I believe we can do both."

"You're telling me that you are doing all of this to free people?" She raises her eyebrows.

"Yes."

"But that's what your mother wants, too!" Rey exclaims with such hope in her eyes.

"No, she doesn't! She had her chance. She and that man she calls brother. What did they do with that chance? Nothing. I saw, I see what the galaxy really is." He remembers how the scales had fallen from his eyes and he had perceived how useless democracy truly is.

"What do you mean?"

He doesn't want to talk about his time with the Jedi, but perhaps it is necessary. "When I was younger, when I still called Skywalker 'Master,' I believed her lies, too. That the New Republic would change everything, that the rebirth of the Jedi heralded a grand new age of peace and prosperity. And it seemed like it had. From the bright, clean halls of the Senate, the quiet bounty of the New Jedi Academy. But then I began to travel with Skywalker and I saw. I saw the suffering. World after world with bloated aristocrats and seas of terrified, desperate people, enslaved in truth or by circumstance."

"But the New Republic is changing that!" Rey leans forward eagerly.

"Not fast enough. Not when I have the power to force people to submit," he says firmly.

"Submit." She pulls back from him.

"Yes! I don't care what they want; I will fulfill my grandfather's vision! I will finish what he started!" Kylo is emphatic.

"You speak as if you … know him. He died before you were even born," she says in confusion.

"I do know him." Kylo smiles slightly. He enjoys speaking of his grandfather.

"How?" She furrows her brow.

"After Leia Organa's duplicity was revealed to the galaxy, he began to speak to me."

"Darth Vader ... talks to you?" Rey's eyes seem almost worried.

"Yes. He told me so many things; what his life had been, how the Jedi had done nothing, nothing at all to free his mother from slavery! They took him from her and just left her behind! Did you know that Luke Skywalker murdered his own father?"

"Family trait?" she retorts cruelly. Rey's eyes widen and her fingers fly to her lips.

Her words slice through him and for a moment he can't breathe. Kylo blinks rapidly, trying to get his bearings as her quarters swim around him. He stands quickly, walking to the other side of the room, putting his back to her. His vision is bathed in red and he's on that horrible bridge that haunts him; he feels his father's hand on his face. "Ben!" echoes in his head. He looks up at the ceiling and tries to collect himself, but he's trapped in the past. His throat is so tight and his heartbeat is wild and erratic.

Just then they are alerted that the droid with their meal has arrived. He knows he should answer, gather their dinner, but he can't move―his father's face is all he can see; his voice, his words, ringing in his ears. Kylo still can't quite seem to catch his breath and his chest hurts. He hears her go to the door.

"Thank you," she quietly says to the droid. He senses her move to the dining table and hears the rustle of linens, the clink of cutlery. He should join her, continue as if nothing has happened, but he's lost to memory.

"Kylo," she calls softly. He must pull himself from this place, but he's frozen. His breathing is quick and shallow.

"Kylo," she calls again. Kylo feels as if his boots are fused with the floor.

He closes his eyes and tries to will himself to move, to turn around, to do anything, when he's startled to feel her hand against his arm. Kylo shudders at the sensation of her small fingers pressing into him, and he's appalled to find himself desperate for her to just hold him. His eyes sting with the need for her comfort. When he opens his eyes he finds her looking up at him with wide, sad eyes.

"Come, eat with me. Tell me more about your grandfather." She trails her hand down his arm and twines her fingers with his. Rey's touch is light—obviously mindful of the bruising—as she pulls him gently to the table. Her soft touch is bringing him back from that terrible moment that he never, ever thinks about. The past is finally fading and all there is is the feeling of their hands clasped together. His focus shifts to the way the energy flows between their fingers and he's letting her lead him to the table.

Suddenly he remembers his promise and he snatches his hand back in terror, backing away quickly.

Rey looks at him, startled, as he gasps, "I'm sorry! I'm not supposed to touch you!" His emotions are out of control and he's feeling very raw. She'd said she'd never speak to him again ...

"No, Kylo, it's alright. I touched you. You didn't break your promise." It takes a moment for him to hear her words, his mind is in such a confused and ragged state.

"Right, right. Of course." Kylo blinks furiously. He's still so unbalanced.

She approaches him slowly, soon standing in front of him. Close, so very close. She looks up into his face, and her eyes are pulling him in, something burning in their beautiful depths. Rey lifts her hand and cups his cheek; Kylo whimpers a small, wounded sound as he leans his face into her touch. Her fingers are so warm and it's as if she's bathing his tattered heart in her light. His eyes close and everything he feels for her wells up within him. It's all he can do not to crush her to his chest, feed this aching hunger, curl up inside her and beg her to soothe away all of his anguish. Oh, Rey ...

She slowly pulls her hand from his face and he can't help it, he leans forward, chasing the healing he'd found in her brief mercy. But all too soon it is over and he opens his eyes to find that she's moved to stand behind her chair.

"Let's sit, see what it is that you've ordered?" she asks him coaxingly as she settles into her chair.

He nods and takes his place adjacent to hers. This time she prepares their plates and he's beginning to breathe properly again.

She cuts into her meat and takes a bite. Rey smiles and quickly takes another, eating with obvious enjoyment. He realizes he's just watching her eat so he begins his meal, but he doesn't really taste it.

They eat quietly; he can't think of what to say, how to speak through everything that's swirling within him.

Eventually, she wipes her mouth with her napkin and softly says, "That was delicious. I … liked last night's dinner, too. Uhm. Thank you." She seems almost contrite.

He clears his throat and finally finds his voice again. "I'm glad. You know that I only want to make you happy, don't you Rey?"

She sighs and her expression is wistful. "Yes, I do know that."

"Will you help me, help me find ways for you to be happy here?" With me.

"How? We're at an impasse. I'm your pris― I'm trapped here. I'm not meant to be idle; I need to be productive, to work."

"I could … I could train you in the Force?" Kylo asks, wanting so much for her to say yes.

She sits back, very warily. "No, Kylo … no."

He wants to press her to train with him, promise her he won't even touch on the dark side, but he's still feeling fragile and he's not sure he can handle fighting with her. Instead, he offers, "You could begin to train on your own? There are vast resources in the ship's library and I have a small collection of Jedi holocrons."

She looks down at her empty plate, blinking slowly. Her eyes lift to his and she nods slightly. "I … I could do that."

"Thank you, Rey," he murmurs. She glances at him, her eyes moving over his face. She nods again, her lips turning up in a faint smile, but her eyes are far away. If only she would open the Bond, let him know the eddies of her thoughts, the waves of her emotions. But she keeps him out as she always does.

Rey has one hand resting on the table and he wants so very much to tangle his fingers with hers, pull her into his arms, bury his face in her neck. The way she had held his face so tenderly ... he'd never experienced anything so intimate, so real. He's craved, desired, wanted her from the very first moment, but that was so much deeper than lust and he knows he'll do whatever he has to to feel it again. To feel her again.

She blinks and inhales sharply. "We never finished … talking. I said I would listen to whatever you had to say about your reasons for joining the First Order."

He'd been very eager for this chance to explain himself, but things are so peaceful with her in this moment, he finds no fire in him for his cause. "Another night, Rey. It can wait."

Pain―bright, searing pain―streaks across her face and he's instantly alarmed. "Rey, what is it?"

"I don't want to fight; it doesn't matter," she says resignedly.

"No, please don't do that. Please don't shut me out. I won't argue with you, I won't lose my temper. I'll just listen. I promise I'll just listen."

She looks at him for a long time while he keeps his face open and wills her to soften, to let him in.

Rey looks up and takes a long breath before saying, "I … It was just when you said it could wait, like there's all the time in the galaxy ... It made me realize that you're never going to let me go."

He tries not to be hurt by this, hurt that she wants to be away from him. He'd barely scratched the surface of his plans for the galaxy―she will understand soon and then she will wish to stay. "I hope that, in time, you will not want me to let you go."

"But … it really doesn't bother you that you have me here against my will?"

"Of course it bothers me!" he bursts out before he regains himself. "I mean, yes, yes it bothers me. I never wanted it like this, never. I wanted you to come to me, I wanted you to … I wanted you to choose me," he admits, months of hurt flowing from him.

"Choice was never part of this Bond."

"That's not true. You've proven that time and again. You've chosen to fight it; I've chosen to embrace it. We could be so happy if you would only try, Rey." He's never been so certain of anything in his entire life. If she would just let him in, he knows they will fulfill each other like no one and nothing else possibly could.

"Please let me go," she whispers brokenly. Her eyes are huge and pleading.

"Oh, Rey … you know I can't do that." Seeing her so very sad, it tears at him.

"Please …" This time her voice is so quiet he can barely hear her. He wants so much to comfort her.

"No, Rey … no." His voice is low, soothing. Soon, she will be happy; he'll make sure of it―he'll find a way.

Her shoulders are hunched in and her head is bowed. "I think … I think I'd like you to go now."

"But …" He'd listened, he hadn't lost his temper ...

"I need to be alone." She doesn't look at him, speaking instead to the table.

"I …" He doesn't want to leave her feeling like this.

"Please, let me have this. At least let me have this."

Kylo remembers how he'd behaved the night before and he knows he must respect her wishes, however difficult it might be for him. "Alright … I'll go."

He's halfway to the door when he remembers Demyan's funeral. He won't be able to come for dinner tomorrow. He had intended to ask her to have breakfast with him instead. He turns back to her to find that she's almost curled in on herself and her shoulders are shaking slightly. He realizes that she's crying. He doesn't know what to do, but the need to do something, anything to ease her distress is intense, almost primal. But she has asked for his absence and he will give it to her.

Kylo decides he will ask her about breakfast in the morning. He silently replaces his helmet and gloves and lets himself out of her quarters.

His beloved is crying. Because of him.

Thank you for my splendid and patient beta, Meaghan M/Juulna. She beta'd FOUR chapters for me for this week. Let's hear it for Meaghan!

Thank you fine and lovely readers! I brighten at every read, follow, favorite, and review, I so appreciate that you give my writing your time.

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