Last On: Rey and Ben wake to find their bond is allowing them to share thoughts now. All thoughts. Rey then has a traumatic memory triggered which makes Ben feel defensive and angry.

Trigger Warning: This is a serious chapter. No graphic details are given, again T rated. But she does recount her story. It includes a few manipulative behaviors her abuser used.

Chapter 31

Poe gasped, catching his breath as his mind replayed recent events to try and make sense of them. He had gone back to the line to grab another Atzerri Cola. Seeing Rey and Rose in line behind some new poultry dish the chef must be experimenting with, he took the time to say hello. "Ben told us about your new psychic connection. I've always wondered what lewd thoughts go through a dark-sider's head." Of course Rey simply folded her arms, and rolled her eyes. Rey, of all the girls on base, never seemed to get any of his jokes, but that never stopped him. "Still, if you have any questions, need something explained, I'm your guy." Poe reached out to touch her arm, leaning closer to her ear to whisper a dirty joke that just occurred to him. He gave her a sly wink, then pulled away.

Rey's reaction was not what he expected. Though from her, he supposed it was typical. He recognized the tightening muscles that once preceded her thrashing him. But that was a long time ago, before they got to know each other, and he figured he deserved that thrashing then. But they knew each other better now. She knew he only meant to be friendly. Still he instinctively dropped his hand to his side.

It was too late, however, as her bond-mate stormed over. Poe didn't see what pushed him, but he was thrown into a wall before he could turn to face his attacker. His head crashed against the corner of the drink machine. When he again opened his eyes he looked into seething rage. Kylo Ren was staring at him with dark eyes that seemed like deep bottomless pits. He now preferred the masked knight of Ren to this man standing in front of him. Only this time there was no torture. No mind tricks to get information. Kylo didn't have a hand on him, though Poe could feel something around his neck, squeezing the precious air out of his lungs.

Rey and Finn stood beside him screaming for him to stop, but the man didn't move. Then Rey cried something that did get him to turn his head a quarter spin. Tears were pouring out of her eyes. She stared at Kylo or Ben for several seconds, while Poe could feel the hold on his neck loosen slowly. Then Poe was dropped to the floor again, without care, as Ben stormed out of the room. Rose tried to put her hands out to comfort Rey, but Rey shoved her off, and turned running for the exit, with tears streaming down her face.

Finn and Rose took a second together before taking action. His arm was around her hip, as she pulled close to him with shock and worry still on her face. Then she looked up at him with a pointed expression. "Go after her," he said, before Rose ran off in the direction Rey had just gone.

Finn was with Poe in a second. He reached down and pulled him up, placing a hand on his back and studying him to make sure he was breathing. "Are you alright?"

Poe nodded, his breaths still catching up to him.

"Good. Come, we should follow him." Finn seemed adamant that Poe go with him.

"What! That man just nearly killed me! Why should I go after him?"

"Because he needs help now. And because you started it. What did you say to her to get him so upset?"

"You know, I can't really remember," Poe lied. He didn't really want his stoic friend to call him out on being stupid for telling a girl a dirty joke when her boyfriend has a psychic connection with her.

Finn gave him a disapproving shake of the head anyway. "Come on, lets go."

Poe had been dragged by Finn across half the ship. "Finn, wait up. Just how do you plan on finding our favorite dark-sider on a ship this large on foot. Now if we'd gone back to my office, like I suggested, and looked at my computer..."

Finn didn't respond, but kept walking. They entered the hanger and walked down through the isle of ships, mostly x-wings. Then Finn stopped. They could hear cries coming from inside the Resistance's only Tie.

Poe tried unsuccessfully to protest as Finn opened the shuttle's door. Inside, the ship was in tatters. The joystick used to steer was ripped right off, several controls appeared pounded out of existence, and the burnt scent of lightsaber burns against the leather seating filled the air.

There cowering on the floor, looking weaker than he'd ever seen him, was the man who'd no doubt make an appearance in at least one of Poe's upcoming nightmares.

"Go away," Ben barked.

It didn't scare Finn though. Poe was beginning to suspect that nothing scared Finn. "Come, you look like you need to hit something." Finn reached down and pulled the sad man up. He put an arm behind him and walked him out of the shuttle.

"Where are we going?" Poe questioned.

"Training room," Finn answered. "We'll find something there for us to hit. Then we'll sit down, have a drink, and talk about it."

Ben turned to eye Finn, and it looked like he was going to protest probably the last part of the plan. But he didn't protest. No, when Finn tapped his back, urging him to keep walking, he obeyed.

Leia was in the small room she claimed as her office when Lt. Connix came running in. "General, It's Kylo... Ben." Leia looked up anxious. It had been a while since they'd let that name slip. She knew it must be serious. She dropped the half a sandwich someone had fetched for her, and stood up as Connix continued. "He snapped, nearly killed Poe."

"What happened?" Leia sounded flabbergasted. She thought Ben was making real progress, and she didn't expect a violent outburst at all.

"I don't know. Poe said something to Rey, then Ben just stormed over and started choking him. She only got him to stop with the words 'It wasn't him.'" Connix recounted.

"Oh boy..." Leia had her suspicions what that meant. She had suspicions ever since the first time Rey beat up Poe for putting his hands on her. She just couldn't get the girl to tell her anything.

Connix shifted her gaze, "Rey is safe. He didn't hurt her. She looked very upset by it though."

"Poor thing," Leia added. "Where are they now?"

Connix eyed her datapad. "Ben is in the training room now. Poe and Finn are there with him." Connix looked up, surprised by this.

"And where is Rey?"

"She's in her quarters," Connix said after glancing back at the datapad.

Leia left in a hurry. Inside the turbolift she paused for a second, debating which way to go. On the one side she had her motherly instincts telling her to go check on her boy. If her instincts are correct, it means their bond must have showed him… "What a tidal wave," Leia said to herself. But then she also had another side to her, one that felt for Rey, and wanted to go comfort her too. Which instinct should she follow?

"Take this down." Finn instructed Poe.

As Poe ripped the thrashed training dummy down and threw it into the corner of the supply room, he looked down at the three others lying there. It was all the proof his fears needed to bubble out of his chest. Poe tapped them down and then grabbed the next new dummy and carried it out.

Finn was beside the besotted Ben. Each time, trying to get him to talk. Each time only getting grunts in response.

They pulled it up and Ben started thrashing at the new dummy again, as Finn and Poe both stepped back to give him space.

A door opened and in stepped Leia. They stood a moment watching Ben. At first Ben didn't notice, but then he turned slightly, acknowledging her presence, before he continued punching the dummy. Finn stepped out to have a private word with her. They both left Poe standing near the door, watching Ben.

"Has he said anything?" She asked.

"Not yet." Finn said, putting his hand through his hair. "Do you want to give it a try?"

Leia thought for a moment. "No, I think in this situation, he'd rather talk to a guy then his uh, mom. Do you know what's going on?"

"He told us about them sharing thoughts. Part of that weird bond. I don't know what made him snap though."

Leia nodded. "I have my suspicions about what happened, but I'm gonna have to talk with Rey to confirm them. I'll go see her now. Keep trying. Hopefully he'll open up to you soon."

For Ben and Rey their bond became a whirlwind of negative thoughts immediately after they both left the mess hall. 'It's all my fault.' 'I'm useless, I can't do anything.' 'I'm unlovable.' 'I ought to rip his heart out.' 'I'm not worth anything.' They spun around and around, neither party being sure which were their own. It all seemed like it would never end. Ben had tried to take off, and go after the Crolute from Jakku. How many could there be on a desert world? He planned on destroying every last one. Only his emotions caused him to rip too hard at the joystick, and the ship was useless within seconds. Rey sat down on the floor at the foot of her bed and cried.

"Rey...Rey...Open up, please." Rose knelt by her door. There was no response from within. As Leia walked up, Rose stood, dusting herself off. "General."

"Let me try." Rose moved aside as Leia walked up to the door. She pressed the buzzer. "Rey, dear, please open up. This is Leia. I just want to talk to you."

Immediately the door slid open and a tear stricken Rey appeared behind it. "I'm so sorry," she cried.

Leia reached out to her and defiantly said, "No. None of this is your fault."

Across the bond, Rey felt the torrent of negative thoughts slow down. 'She's right. Thank you mom.'

"But… He was going to kill Poe. And all because I… It was my fault. Don't blame him. It was my fault."

"It was NOT your fault. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to kill Poe. I want to kill him at least four times a week, to be honest. But he didn't, and that is all thanks to you. I will hear nothing more about this being your fault." Leia's eyes were sincere to every word.

Across the ship, Finn noticed Ben stop punching the latest dummy, even though there was still life left in it. He hung his head, and looked forlorn at the floor. Finn took this as a signal and stepped up. "Come, let's have that drink now." He led Ben to the attached pool room, and to the included Bar. The resistance had redecorated it with an Ilohian theme, what with an iridescent counter, sand colored posts, and seashells everywhere. It would have irritated Ben, but he was too distracted now to notice. There was a droid behind the bar that poured them drinks.

Ben took the drink and just stared at it.

Poe cleared his throat. "I wanted to tell you, that there never has been anything between me and Rey. Never has, never will."

Ben didn't blink.

"And it isn't the end of the world, a woman having thoughts about another guy. I've been with lots of women with experience. And I'll tell you personally…" Poe was going to say something about what gets an engine purring and enjoying the ride, but the look on Ben's face made him stop in his tracks.

"It wasn't… It wasn't what you're thinking." Ben pushed the unsipped drink away from him.

A thought from Rey came strongly to his mind, backed by fear. 'Don't tell. PLEASE Ben, don't tell.'

Rey stepped back, distracted by her pleading with Ben, as Leia took advantage and stepped into her room, followed by Rose. Leia pushed aside the piles of laundry that stood on the one chair in the room, then took a seat. Rose pulled the distracted Rey over to the bed.

It was then that Ben responded to Rey. 'Then you tell. Rey, please, you have to tell.' This brought fresh tears to Rey's eyes.

Leia reached over and handed Rey a handkerchief. Then she just looked Rey in the eye, saying nothing, but an unspoken 'I'm listening.'

"On Jakku, Unkar Plutt is the only junk boss who'll trade portions for scavenged materials and parts. When I was five he bought me from my parents. He wanted a small body to crawl into one of the crafts he'd heard about, and he wanted it cheap. When I finished that, he was finished with me. I started scavenging then because it was all I knew of to survive, and I figured if my parents had second thoughts, they'd come to look for me with him.

His deals were unfair and very meager most of the time. But when I got older, something changed. He'd give me better deals, and I even caught one of his thugs defending me from some would be attacker once. He tried to talk to me every time I went to trade, but I was still scorning him for his earlier bad deals. Not to mention him separating me from my parents. I hated him. But then he'd take away his favorable deals if I didn't talk to him. I had to. I was starving. One day he pulled me into his hut. One of his thugs barred the door, while he…

Leia didn't wait any longer. She reached forward and hugged Rey, letting her cry on her shoulder. Rose stroked Rey's back.

"So you weren't jealous of another man… You were defending her." Finn thought out loud.

Ben was so distracted by Rey digging up these memories that he didn't really hear Finn. But Poe did, and he looked questioningly at Finn.

"It wasn't him..." Finn quoted.

"Someone else… Hurt Rey." Poe's eyes went wide with the realization. "Who?" Poe turned to Ben.

"A dead man walking." Ben growled out. Then tears appeared in the corners of Ben's eyes. He tried to hold them back and to straighten his face, but was unsuccessful. "If I wasn't so useless."

"The ship..." Poe thought out loud. "Yeah, they've been under lock down since you got here." Poe swiped his hand through his hair in a nervous gesture as he was talking. "The General didn't want you running off in the middle of the night or nothing."

"That isn't your responsibility. Hear me." Finn positioned himself to look Ben in the eyes. "Rey needs you here, now. As she deals with this. You can be strong for her. And you can tell her how you feel about her. Sometimes women need to hear those things, even when they're obvious."

It was then that Rey was hugging Leia. Ben heard a stray thought from her mind. 'I don't deserve this.'

That was when Ben opened up and shared every thought about Rey he'd been hiding throughout the day, and more. He pictured the cute way she giggled over her breakfast cereal, the way she made his heart beat faster whenever he saw her, and the way he feels impressed by her when she masters things that took him years to learn. He thought of the way his stomach churned whenever they'd get close to touching. And what she looks like when she's practicing with her lightsaber…

Rey cried harder, under the torrent of thoughts from Ben. She had never felt so much love, between the nonverbal gestures of Leia and Rose, and Ben's very loud mental words. 'Rey, you deserve every bit of this. I…' Then suddenly the thoughts stopped.

"Ben!" Rey pulled away from Leia and looked around in fear. "Ben! I can't hear him."

"That was our doing," said one of three Bluish ghosts that appeared in the corner of the room. The speaker, an old man Rey had seen once before, when he pleaded with her and Ben to help Luke and Anakin with their argument. The two of them were also present, standing on either side of the speaker. "But don't worry. We've discovered that elements of the bond between you can be used voluntarily. Now that the Force has taught you how to communicate telepathically, you will be able to do so again. Go ahead, try again."

Rey's thoughts became very loud in her own mind. 'Ben...' It was met with only silence.

"Focus." Then the old man lifted his hand towards her, and she suddenly heard his voice in her mind too. 'Feel the way the force moves as I do this. Now replicate.'

Rey tried again. 'Rey… Rey… Where are you Rey?' She was met with the panicked thoughts of Ben, and she smiled laughing.

'Ben, it's ok. I'm still here. I've got a lot to show you,' she responded.

"You can replicate a lot of the other bond activity in much the same way." Anakin said. "Even that body switching thing."

"I thought we agreed not to mention the experiments on…" whispered Luke.

"I didn't." Anakin whispered back.

Leia laughed. "Keep them out of trouble, Obi Wan."

"Always...Always and forevermore…" Obi Wan mumbled as he took hold of the other two and disappeared from this relm.

Hello Everyone. I apologize, I know that chapter was very serious, but it needed to happen. Anyways, I tried to give it a warm, happy ending, so hopefully you're not too mad. I know there is a lot of controversy over the whole: Was Rey really a slave issue, and I hope I gave it a realistic interpretation. In the books, Rey regarded Unkar Plutt as especially gross, and that seemed to flag me as strange. Not to mention that he seemed to look at Rey lustfully, from what I remember after reading the book. Now, according to Wookieepedia, Unkar was impressed by Rey's scavenging abilities, so he had his thugs look out for her. If he tried to tell me this, I wouldn't believe him, and I'd feel an awkward feeling in my gut over it. Not to mention there's the whole buying a five year old thing. I mean, is he really that desperate for scavengers he'd buy them? I kinda got the impression they were mostly bottom of the barrel people, who had nowhere else to go. And in a universe at war, I'd imagine there'd be a lot of them. Plus how long do you expect a five year old to survive in a place like Jakku without parental support. It's thanks to Rey's strong will that she did survive. I see it as a statistical improbability that she survived at all. Therefore, what profit would a man like Unkar Plutt see to buy a five year old Rey. I could think of two, and I gave the more innocent of the two, because I didn't want to go there.

In the following chapters, though I will bring more up again, I will try t keep it lighter, I promise. They just really needed to get through this to get to the next step. Anyways, let me know in the Reviews if I made any major errors, or if you don't buy any of my version of events. Thank you to all who've left reviews of the last chapter. I appreciate hearing your kind supportive words, they do inspire me to keep writing.