A/N: A big thanks to SirenBanshee. You are one amazing beta!

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He almost shouted as he got sucked into what felt like a void. Time had no meaning. Space had no meaning. Colours swirled around him—strands tinged blood red and midnight black amongst dark blues and vibrant greens. Stars twinkled. The sun shone together with a moon, yet no light seemed to truly reach him. The non-world tumbled around him and he lost all sense of direction.

Kylo fought not to panic—a sensation he hadn't felt for a long time. He didn't know where he was, where Ember was, nor how to get back to her mind, let alone his. He was in over his head. Where was he?

He felt stretched and compressed, like a cloth of fabric. The sensation repeated, then solely became a feeling of stretching. Tenseness started to build as he felt like a limit was reached, as if his limbs were being pulled in all directions.

Trying to focus on his surroundings instead of his discomfort, he watched with consternation as the formerly swirling strands straightened out in front of him. A sound started piercing the void. He hadn't even noticed that sound had been absent. As it grew in intensity—along with the pain the stretching caused him—he quickly tried to cover his ears but found that he couldn't.

He must have shouted. He knew he must have shouted if the roughness in his throat was any indication, yet he hadn't heard himself. Then, the sound around him started changing. It turned into that of ripping of cloth.

With wide eyes, he focussed back on the strands and, to his horror, one by one, they started tearing apart, fraying at the separated ends. They all tore, they all broke, until the sound suddenly disappeared and the tension on his body melted away. Everything around him turned dark and muted.

It all felt wrong.

He didn't know how he did it, nor was he even sure that he moved, but he reached out and took hold of the strands. They burned and sizzled—much like electricity—but they didn't truly hurt him. Using all the strength he possessed and allowing the Force to guide him, he once more joined the frayed strands together.

A massive boom vibrated through him; the accompanying shockwave violently threw him back into darkness. With a feeling as if slamming into a wall, he returned to his own body.

Weapons in the room were rattling in their stands. Another shockwave rippled through the room and shattered droids and equipment alike. He snapped his head up and froze. Ember was staring at him, the burning he had seen in the child's eyes returned in full force. Somehow, he thought she didn't see him at all. Shockwave after shockwave left her body, yet she remained still as a statue.

The static that was building in the air intensified the headache he'd developed due to the forceful way their connection had broken. The sound he'd heard in that void started assaulting his ears again. Kylo realised the situation was fast tumbling out of control.

"Ember," he said. "Ember!" She blinked, once. He figured it was better than nothing. "Let it flow freely; don't try to contain it." She bared her teeth. "Remember, it is a part of you! Don't treat it like an enemy!"

Her hands twitched and he took a risk. Grabbing them with his, he reached out for her again. "Let it flow into me," he commanded.

The strength of the energy that flowed into him had him grit his teeth. He focussed on his meditation techniques, focussed on allowing the Force to take its own course. There was no telling how long they sat like that, how long he served as a conduit, but eventually, the onslaught of energy lessened. When he finally let go of Ember's hands, the woman promptly fainted.

"BEN!"

Feeling rather exhausted, he looked up just in time to see a tear-streaked Rey throw herself at him. She all but fell on her knees next to him and threw her arms around his shoulders.

"You're okay! You're okay." She shot up and patted him down, before wrapping herself around him again. "The bond started behaving weirdly. I didn't know what was happening. It was like, fluctuating or something. And then you were gone. You were gone! I couldn't reach you anymore. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reach you. You were gone! And then the Force all but freaked. What happened? I thought you were dead. Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me anymore. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have been mad at you. You were right, okay? Are you really okay? I shouldn't have been mad. Please don't leave. I couldn't reach you."

"Rey," he interrupted her rambling after a moment of shocked silence. He lifted the arm furthest away from her—noting with some humour that she couldn't quite reach all the way around his shoulders—and put his hand on her bicep. "Rey, I'm okay."

She lifted her head from his shoulder. "Really?" she asked with a small voice.

He pulled at her arm in an attempt to be able to wipe her tears. She inadvertently ended up in his lap but he was too tired to care. He brushed his thumbs over her cheeks and then wrapped his arms around her.

"Yes," he answered her, "I'm okay."

"What happened?" she mumbled against his chest.

"I managed to reconnect Ember with the Force. At least, I think." He glanced at the unconscious woman in front of him. He knew he should get her taken care of but he wanted to explain to Rey first.

"Why didn't you warn me?"

"There wasn't any time," he answered.

"Is she okay as well?"

"I'm not sure."

He tried to focus his muddled mind to show Rey his surroundings. She lifted her head slightly to look around the wrecked room. "What-" She spotted Ember. "Oh! What happened? You should get a droid or someone else to look at her."

"Right," he said, turning to regard the door. "Phasma!"

Immediately, the door hissed open. After all that happened, Kylo wasn't at all surprised to know she had been waiting with her hand on the button. Phasma spotted him in what must have been a weird position to sit in, and she immediately held back the other Troopers that wanted to enter the room.

Kylo nodded at Ember. "Get her looked after. I think it was a success. Don't allow her to wake until I'm present. This," he vaguely gestured around the room, "might happen again."

"Yes, sir!" She hesitated for a moment. "And you, sir?" Phasma finally asked.

"Fine. Tired, but fine."

As Phasma started dealing out orders and summoning droids, Rey shifted in his lap.

"You should go sleep," she said.

"Don't you want to know what happened?" he answered.

"Yes, but it- it can wait." She pushed herself up so she could look at him. "You're tired; you should go sleep."

He looked at her. He could see she was being honest, but there was something else there too.

"Are you sure?"

"Just-" She bit her lip and looked away. "Just don't leave me."

Kylo pulled her close again. "I won't, I promise," he murmured. He rose to stand, easily lifting Rey with him before putting her on her feet. "I'll explain it all later, okay?"

She smiled at him and nodded. Noticing the droids entering the room, he merely returned her smile before turning to walk away. Phasma quickly barked to her Troopers to deal with Ember before following him through the hallways.

"Sir," Phasma ventured. "Why was she there? If you don't mind me asking?"

It was obvious to him that she was testing the waters, knowing full well she'd crossed a line earlier—how long ago was it?

"Our connection acted up and she couldn't reach me. She wanted to make sure everything was okay," he answered.

Even though he was talking to Phasma, he felt reluctant to share more about how Rey had reacted to his sudden disappearance. Luckily, the woman didn't ask any further. When he stepped into his quarters—leaving the commander to guard the door—he immediately noticed Rey sitting on his bed.

"Why are you here?" he asked, confused.

"I'm sorry. I- I should leave. I'm sorry."

"No. And stop saying that. I just thought the explanation could wait."

"No. Yes. No. I'm not here for… It can wait. I just- It's just-"

He stared at her, wondering how it was possible that his disappearance had affected her so. He knew she feared people leaving her, and even though he also knew she considered herself his friend, he couldn't be that important to her.

"You can stay, if you like," he merely said.

Feeling like he would topple over if he didn't get to bed soon, he stripped until he was only wearing his trousers. Rey darted out of the way as he climbed into bed. With a sluggish movement, he padded the bedding beside him.

"Just lay down, Rey; no use in you standing in the middle of the room."

His eyes drooped close, but he could hear her hesitant steps before the mattress dipped slightly.

"Can I-" she swallowed, her voice sounding really small. "Can I hold your hand?"

He blindly reached out, hardly aware of her smaller hand landing on top of it as her fingers entwined with his. 'Sleep well, Ben,' was the last thing he heard before oblivion took him under.

He woke up slowly, drowsily, as if he had to drag himself out of a hole filled with slurping, unwilling to let go, mud. As he moved to rub his eyes, Rey's hand clasped tighter around his. Surprised she was still there, he blinked and opened his eyes fully. The sight next to him made him smile.

Rey was curled up on her side, fast asleep. One hand was tucked under her cheek while the other was still tightly holding onto his. It seemed so small in comparison to his own hand. A glance at the timepiece next to the door told him he had been asleep for a good two hours.

Kylo wondered exactly how much he had scared Rey for her to refuse to leave him for so long—going as far as falling asleep next to him and staying connected through it. He felt the intense urge to hug her, but he didn't want to spook her. Instead, he contented himself with looking at her sleeping face. She looked so harmless.

He frowned as she started twitching and mumbling in her sleep. For the longest time he didn't know what to do in response to her unintelligible words, until finally he could understand her.

"Ben? Ben? Ben?" Her voice grew more panicked with every repeat of his name.

"I'm here, Rey. I'm here," he tried to reassure her. He wished he had his hand free so he could touch her face, rub away the frown that was forming. "I'm not going anywhere," he continued, noticing she wasn't calming.

Much to his relief, her eyes fluttered and opened an instant later.

"Ben?" she asked sleepily.

"Yes."

"You're still here."

"So are you."