Author's Note: Aaaaand here's another, just because I didn't update for so long. :)

Chapter Thirteen

21 ABY

Ben began to think that the temple wasn't as safe as he'd once believed.

Another failed petition to his uncle left Ben frustrated and empty handed. He'd been lectured again on his overarching compassion and the liberties he'd taken. He was told to separate himself from the child during her last days in the Academy and to focus on the Jedi code he seemed so adamant on ignoring. And though Ben had argued that their implied duty was to protect others, Luke merely shook his head in disappointment. They could not see eye to eye.

While Ben was forgotten – left to suffer on his own with no one else to turn to but the voice – he would not allow it to happen to her. With or without his uncle's approval.

His quarters were as dark as the sky outside, the lights of the stars shrouded by storm clouds that had threatened since sun-up. Now, they were beginning to break free, raindrops pattering to the earthen village in a slowly building crescendo. When the nighttime sounds were drowned out by the roar of rain, Ben knew it was time.

Call to the child.

Ben closed his eyes, silence surrounding him on command. His mind was clear save for the chord that, when plucked, resonated with the soft clarity of a single, steady note. He reached, searching, and the closer he drew to his destination, the stronger the chord sounded. It was practically deafening when he found her. She resisted his prying at first, uncertain, and pride welled within him. She was learning quickly, and all on her own. It gave way to silence as soon as she reached back, and he whispered to her; told her to follow. Before long, the quiet of his room was interrupted by a tapping at the door.

Take her away from here.

Donning his cloak and turning up its hood, Ben joined Little One in the rain. He was sad to see her standing so solemn and still, when any other child her age would have joyously pranced through the rain collecting in puddles along the path. Then again, he had never been one to jump in puddles, either. There was always too much on his mind.

Ben crouched beside Little One and smiled reassuringly through the downpour. He was relieved to see no semblance of fear cross her features. Only trust. He was grateful for it, because if he were honest with himself, he was unsure of what was next for them. At sixteen, he had nothing to his name. All he knew of the world was from his holobooks. There was no home to return to – not one that wouldn't immediately return them there, to the place where they were both unsafe. All Ben knew was that together, they were free. Continuing down the path their family wanted for them – one where they'd be wrenched apart – would only lead to one thing. The voice and the nightmares would return. Without him, Ben was sure Little One wouldn't resist it on her own.

Do what you must.

Ben hadn't noticed that all of his thoughts had long since become Snoke'svoice, directing him, telling him what was next, and urging him forward. But that couldn't be…

Taking Little One's hand, Ben headed toward the west in a hurried pace. The plan was simple, because there was nothing to support a more complex one. They would lose themselves under the shroud of the forest and the storm and make their way to the ocean. It was the night before the first month's cycle's end, and the new younglings' parents would be arriving for a reunion scheduled the next morning. Failing initiates would be allowed to leave. Succeeding ones would celebrate their accomplishments with their parents one last time before saying their final, ultimate goodbyes. He and Little One would take one of the visiting carrier ships, set an autopilot destination and wish for the best. Perhaps, thanks to his towering height unfit of such a young man, he could pass as her guardian. And then… then they could train. They could realize their true potential, together.

"And then what, Ben?"

Ben stopped so suddenly that Little One collided with his back. Luke's question seared through his mind, and Ben cursed himself. How long had Luke been watching? Ben had taken such care in closing off his thoughts. Meticulously built the sturdiest of walls. At first, he blamed his trailing imagination, realizing how panicked his breaths were coming and falling. He was committing a treasonous act, to defy his uncle's new Order. Stealing a pupil – a child, no less – in the night. But then, it dawned on him. Luke always had the strength and ability to overcome Ben's defenses. He just refused to share that fact with him, let alone teach him how.

Never again, Ben vowed. If he escaped – if they made it out of that cursed Academy – Ben would teach himself how to keep Luke out, once and for all.

Little One pulled at his hand with a confused whimper. Kneeling beside her, he brushed back the wet bangs that plastered against her forehead. "It'll be alright,"he assured her, his resolve strengthening when she smiled, believing him. He pulled her into his arms and lifted her, her small hands wrapping around his shoulders. "I've got you."

Still, Luke was pushing, forcing himself in, attempting to break the connection that so easily came between Ben and the child. Ben felt the bitterness well within him. "I am doing what's right, M-…" He stopped himself before honoring his uncle with the title Luke did not deserve. He was shouting into the night, to no one it seemed, and Little One watched him with worried eyes. "I won't let what's happened to me, happen to her, too."

"Do you realize what this looks like?"

"Don't be sick," Ben spat, relinquishing Little One to the ground and wrenching his arm free from her as if to punctuate his point. "You would have her suffer just as I did, all these years? Simply because you don't believe what I say?"

"You must be honest with yourself, Ben," Luke insisted, and it was evident in the rumbling of his voice how difficult it was for Luke to keep his own anger in check. "Don't be so blind that you cannot see you are doing this for yourself. Not for her."

"Lies!" Ben growled in response, finally answering through their telekinetic connection. "Just because you cannot fathom doing such a thing as showing compassion and caring for others more than yourself. You are just like them." Images of Han and Leia flooded his mind, and by his defeated sigh, Ben knew that Luke was seeing the images as well. "They abandoned me. Washed their hands of me. Left me to suffer with this… this nightmare. I will not let it happen to anyone else."

"I'm afraid you have no choice." Luke's voice was no longer in his head, but behind them. His fists balling at his sides, Ben refused to turn and meet the eyes of his uncle… because something else had appeared, too. Something only he – and by her gasp, Little One – could see. Something in a dark cloak and warped grin that was more a part of the shadows then it was with reality.

It spoke directly to Ben. Your weakness led the Jedi straight to you.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ben could see the girl's parents rush into the clearing, soaked from head to toe. She willingly ran to them and they gathered her into his arms, adding yet another ache to Ben's heaving chest.

"We will wipe her mind of this."

Luke was no longer addressing Ben, but Little One's parents. Ben whirled on his heel just as Luke passed his hand over the girl's face. "No!"

See what you have done? She is lost now, to us both.

Without another word, her parents approached Ben with angry, frightened eyes. Her mother's mouth quivered, searching for words of undoubted accusation. Faltering, she and her husband brushed past him, heading toward the ship docks. Ben turned to watch them, his arm raising to stop them in their tracks. He knew he could do it – he could make their entire bodies halt, freezing mid-step and controlling them just as he'd done Felsin years ago. But over her mother's shoulder, Little One's eyes locked with his. There was no recognition there, and her hands did not reach back for him.

There is still hope for you. Through me, there is another way.

Ben squeezed his eyes closed and felt for the string that connected him to her. He could visualize it, the red length of cord that had once tied them together. Yet, as far as he could reach, he could not grasp it. Not anymore.

I will show you.

Once they were out of sight, Ben sunk to his knees, flinching when Luke's hand gripped his shoulder.

"If what you said was true… if she was suffering as you had, then she won't suffer any longer." Ben knew what Luke had done. He'd erased every fragment from the child's mind that she'd come to know in her short six years, including the Academy, and especially Ben. The thing her parents carried was no longer their child. She was a shell, fresh to remold into whatever they chose for her to be.

It seemed as though the voice, Snoke, was right. She would be lost to them both.

"Could you…" Ben's voice cracked, his head bowing in shame and defeat. "Could you at least tell me her name?"

Luke's grip fell away from Ben's shoulder. "You know that I cannot." With that, Ben watched as Luke's hand waved in front of him. His words were soft, but for the life of him, Ben couldn't remember what his uncle said. All he could remember was the emptiness those words left behind.

Present Day

The agreement was simple. He would show her what he knew, and she would do the same.

R2 and C3PO were not entirely sure of Kylo's presence on the Millennium Falcon. Had Chewbacca been there, he would have undoubtedly agreed with the droids' sentiment, and that road would have gone both ways for Kylo Ren. When he asked about the Wookie, how had Rey put it… he'd left to "find nature." Admittedly, Kylo would have been none too pleased to come face to face with the vile thing that blasted him – let alone served as his father's secondhand aboard the Falcon. All patricide aside, no matter how much Kylo hated the ship, he felt a kinship to it. It was something Han had cherished, no matter how old or damaged it became. Kylo respected that, if not much else.

He couldn't bring himself to the cockpit. Not just yet. Instead, he followed like instinct to the crew's quarters. It seemed so much larger when he was a child tucked away in there when he would wander too much for Han's liking. He tried to remember how many times Han had taken him aboard, but stopped when the count of broken promises exceeded the number of times. Recalling such childish memories disgusted Kylo. A part of him despised the comfort he sought there… but of every location on that retched island, inside the Falcon's quarters was where he felt the most secure.

The scavenger… no, Rey… brushed past him and plopped down on the bunk, well at home in the ship she'd commandeered. He was not interested in that particular backstory: how Han had lost the ship, or how Rey had come across it, was undoubtedly due to his father's weakness and ineptitude. What he wanted to know was locked away inside his head, and she was the only one who could access it.

There had always been something missing. Something from his time in Luke's Academy. That sense of loss persisted throughout Kylo's entire life thus far, until he found the scavenger on Takadona. That's where he'd sensed it – a bond with the strange girl that felt so familiar. When they'd traded off penetrating each other's minds during the interrogation, Kylo saw the thin, red string. It was familiar, too, and it seemed to lead right to those missing pieces he'd carried since the Academy. He just had no way of knowing what those pieces were; not without Rey.

She waited for him to be ready. She seemed so small before him, a bundle of nerves with her foot tapping and her eyes everywhere but in his direction. Such an infinitesimal being, and yet, she had overpowered him in every sense. When he'd called her weak, it was just a front. Her potential was unnerving. Captivating. Even when he resisted, she'd found a way in. She made him feel weak, like he was her prey and not the other way around like she liked to make it seem. It frustrated him all the more that he wanted her there, filling the emptiness and quieting the noise.

There were not many places to go on the island, but the further he distanced himself from the scavenger, the louder the noise got – the more pressure that clutched at his temples. Snoke was always there, beating down the door ever since Kylo left the First Order base. He grew more insistent as Kylo braced himself against it. Rey had been the final piece that helped bar Snoke from Kylo's head entirely – a feat he didn't think was possible. When she was near, she fortified the walls and drowned out the white noise that was Snoke himself. With her near, he had finally slept. He'd nearly forgotten what peace felt like, until then.

It felt strange sitting beside her like it was something they'd done casually for years. Everything suddenly felt so simple. There on the bunk, sitting beside a simple girl who was honestly not simple at all, he did not feel like the Jedi Killer or the feared warlord of the First Order. It was a foreign feeling, to be so unguarded. Exposed. He had to be in order for her to work, he told himself. If she dove too deeply, he could stop her.

Deep down, he knew he wouldn't stop her.

"I-I don't know what would work best," Rey stammered, her hands prodding at the air like she couldn't decide where to put them. Kylo flinched away from her. They had successfully connected over the bond over extensive distances; withstood his trajectory's shift into hyperdrive; could feel each other's presence across the length of a planet. Still, she wanted to touch him.

Rey read the derision in his eyes, sneered back at him, and scolded like a mother to a child. "It's stronger when we do. The visions. You know this..."

"Memories," Kylo corrected, and Rey flung her hands up in frustration.

"Yes, that." Kylo nearly smirked at her exasperation, but bit his lip instead – a mindless habit he'd had since childhood. She'd touched him more in the last day than anyone had in years. It had been that long – his childhood – since the last time he'd embraced another human being, and that thought alone made him nauseous over his softness. Nonetheless, it was true: he'd hugged his mother to say goodbye to her before she left him at the Academy. It had been an obligatory hug, one that he'd done out of duty and not out of love. His anger had made sure of that. Kylo wondered if he'd stopped loving everything, then. For the life of him, he did not know, and wondered if he ever knew how to love anything in the first place. But the thought of someone touching him… of her touching him again, sent panic and want through him simultaneously.

He already knew what she felt like. He'd carried her across Takadona, her body warm and heavy in his arms. Kylo cursed himself for wanting to feel it again, just without the lifelessness.

It was hot in the quarters, the air made warmer by their close proximity. On the bunk, there was barely enough room for them both to sit comfortably. She curled a leg beneath her to face him more evenly. A sheen of sweat was forming on her brow and she was glowing just the same as she did in the starlight the night before. Her resolution to their agreement was unwavering, and Kylo had to comply. He wanted to comply. So he turned to her as well and willed himself not to flinch when her hands gripped his shoulders.

Instantly, her eyelids closed and her eyes began darting beneath the thin, fragile skin. Her eyelashes were dark and long against her tan cheeks. Pink lips parted and the tip of her tongue swiped along the bottom of her pout, a sign of her concentration. So distracted was Kylo that he almost forgot to close his eyes, and when he did, he wished he hadn't. There was nothing there for him to see. Nothing but blackness. All he could do was wait and listen to the way her breathing rose and fell and sometimes hitched in surprise. Her fingertips dug into his armguards, the heat of her palms sinking through the tough material. At times she would sway, as if acting alongside the vision. An eternity seemed to pass before she relinquished him, and when his eyes opened, he found her gasping for air.

"I found them… your memories. You were trying to save me," she choked out between breaths, and she looked at him with hard, scrutinizing eyes. "Snoke... He was taking over my every waking thought. You felt it too, and you… you were trying to help me resist him. But when he got too strong, they blamed you. They thought you were forcing an attachment and that was catering to the dark side. They didn't understand that you were what kept Snoke away. For both of us. We tried to run before they could take me away. Before I was left on Jakku. They thought they could hide me from Snoke there, but you knew it wouldn't work. You weren't going to let them…"

"But I failed," Kylo concluded for her, and Rey hesitated a long, heavy moment before nodding. She'd been yet another thing that had been taken from him. Just another thing that was destroyed and kept him from finding peace. It was all he'd wanted in the beginning, and when it was dangled in front of him just to be stripped away, it all made sense to Kylo – it made sense why for seven years following, he could do nothing but hide his hate until he couldn't hide it anymore. He had made his choices, yes, but they all had led him to the water to drink.

He suddenly felt as if he were suffocating. He needed to leave, needed to be away from the implied tomb of his dead father. To his surprise, Rey would not allow it.

"No," she insisted, jumping from her seat on the bunk and gripping his arm. "Don't you see? Didn't you learn anything from the memory? When we…" she seemed to falter beneath the words, as if it was strange and terrifying to believe it herself. "When we are close… that's when Snoke can't get to us. That's when we're safe."

The fear was getting to her. She couldn't hide it anymore. Her hands on his arm seemed to drive away the storm in Kylo's mind. She wouldn't surrender, and for once, Kylo willingly complied. He sank back into the bunk and leaned against the framing, watching with curiosity as Rey did the same. She swiped languidly at her brow and plucked at the collar of her tunic, fluttering and fanning it from the heat. Out of instinct, Kylo reached above the frame and pressed a button, the fan kicking to life. It was mesmerizing how the stray strands of her auburn hair fluttered along her hairline and over her warm, blushed cheeks. Her eyelids drifted shut and she smiled with the cool relief. She was unlike anything he'd ever seen.

She, of course, had not forgotten their deal. "My training starts tomorrow?" she murmured, her voice tired and drifting. He'd forgotten how draining using the force was for fledgling padawans. Guilt churned in his gut.

"Yes. Your training starts tomorrow."