Ben's head rang with a hot fury that pierced through their connection like an arrow. He gritted his teeth and flexed his fists, which stung painfully from an invisible force that slammed against them. An unbelievable pain stung in his chest, making his eyes water and his throat close.
He knew immediately what this was. He understood their connection so well now that he knew when the pain he felt was Rey's. She was in pain now, but he couldn't know exactly why unless he pushed himself further into her head.
Ben reached out through their bond, slowly, as a question. Was she ok? What was ailing her? Likely she was training too hard and the pain was self inflicted, but he had to know.
He pushed forward and he felt the heat from the Chandrila sun bake her chest, the feeling mirrored in him. He closed his eyes and smiled to himself as he was surrounded with her familiar presence, though feral and angry in her current state.
Rey was on the empty balcony terrace again, "training" as she would call it, but to him it was more like swinging her staff around at full force like a furious reek rhino, not caring what or who was in her way.
This had happened frequently during his past few weeks here, locked in his small, dura-glass cell. As far as prison's go, it wasn't half bad. He had certainly seen worse than this.
He was held in a cell completely his own, with a small cot that hardly fit his large form - typical - and a sufficient personal washing station. The Chandrila guards fed him two meals a day, small and measly, but food none-the-less to keep him alive.
Ben was thrown in here immediately after he was arrested. He didn't struggle when they came to take him. It took three guards to practically drag him below the capitol. He still had scrapes on his boots from the journey.
His hair had grown longer, brushing his shoulders now. His facial hair had grown into a short stubble that cast a dark shadow across his face, contouring the angles of his sharp features.
Ben's only comfort was Rey, though not physically with him. She was his light and they were so well tuned into their bond now that it was effortless.
However, his meetings with Rey tended to bring on more concern than comfort. He saw what their separation was doing to her, physically. She was wilting, like a flower, inside and out. He could feel the life draining from her.
A deep, sick part of him was still surprised that someone cared for him the way Rey did, so much so that it was affecting her physically. Ben wasn't sure he would ever fully understand.
And then there was the taunting fact that he could so easily escape this place - escape Chandrila all together. It was almost worse than not being able to - he was choosing to remain here, tethering himself to the burning stake.
He would face justice for what he had done. How could he not? He couldn't live with himself, forever running from his past as a fugitive. Always hunted, always sought after.
No. He was done giving nothing but darkness and injustice to the galaxy. For once in his life, he would do things right. Even if it got him killed.
Rey had been furious with his choice. Her anger reminded him of their first force connections - she was white hot and angry, like a snake striking with vicious precision.
He didn't blame her. He would be saying the same things to her if she were in his place. He shuddered at the thought of her being locked up, alone once again. Which was what made staying here all the more conflicting. Once again, his thoughts were torn. He turned to the force, frequently, for peace and guidance.
There was another small, unexpected piece of company in his cell. A tiny, green, seedling of a musk-rose, inexplicably growing through a tiny crack in the dura-crete wall.
How in the hell could anything grow down here, without any light?
Ben watched, almost protectively, as the seedling slowly grew each day, breaking through the crack in the dura-crete wall as if it were soil. He used to pick them for his mother as a child. He could still see the way Leia's face lit up with excitement over the small token of love from son to mother.
Suddenly, Ben sensed another presence near Rey on the terrace. He pushed forward, curious. It was a girl. Rose, the small mechanic who seemed to have taken a liking to Finn. He didn't know the girl, but he admired her. He remembered hearing about Rose breaking into the Supremacy to disable the light speed tracker, which not many knew how to do. Though on the opposite sides of the war, he had admired her skill and bravery.
Ben broke off the connection, and retreated back to his cot. He called on the force, sinking down on the thin mattress into a meditative position. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Rey was ok, and that was all he needed to know.
Ben's eyes snapped open as he broke off his meditation with a sharp inhale. He had been so connected to the force that he sensed the dark ripple through space and time just before he physically felt it.
Like thunder echoing lightning, the entire building shook expectantly. He blinked rapidly, clearing the fog from his head as he came back to here and now. Tiny pebbles fell around him and small clouds of dust billowed out from the cracks in the wall.
He breathed, turning his head to the musk-rose which shivered like a scared child. The tremor seemed to last forever, like the ground was moving beneath him.
But there was more. Something wasn't right. The dark tremor he had felt in the force worried him more than the roof caving in on his head. He stood abruptly and began to pace his cell, his breath coming quickly as the panic rose in his core.
He focused and reached out to Rey. He immediately sensed chaos around her, but not like what he had felt earlier today. This was different. She was in trouble, deep trouble. And not only her, but others around her were in danger too - his own panic rose as he felt her grow frantic.
There was only one option for him, only one thing he could do and it damn sure wasn't to sit here idle. He called on the force, reared back with all his might, and thrust both his hands outward, channeling the force towards the dura-crete glass wall in front of him. The glass shattered like water, crashing to the ground in a single, beautiful, shimmering curtain.
Ben felt the building shake again, and the disturbance pulsed in the force like a mushroom cloud. People were dying, he could feel it.
He wasted no time and started forward, his boots crunching loudly on the broken glass. As he exited, he took one last look over his shoulder at the musk-rose seedling, swaying slightly from the uproar, as if waving goodbye.
