Her nightmares begin, the same as they always do, with explosions and fire. She chokes on smoke, and longs to scream even as she can't find her voice. But then they shift, drastically, to something different. There is a flash of green, and that painful feeling of betrayal sinks into her. A storm rolls in, and though she can't see anything but black, she hears the thunder. It echoes in her brain for a long time, building louder, until silence takes over.

Her new dream appears slowly to her, shapes taking their form gradually. She somehow knows she is dreaming, as she also knows this place is not familiar to her. She's in someone's home… It is decorated warmly, cozy, but she feels cold.

She's standing in front of a door, and it is tall and forbidding. The doorknob is at eye level, her hand is so small. Is that her hand? It doesn't seem right. She is reaching for the doorknob, even though she knows she shouldn't go into this room. But their voices stop her.

"He could have killed Lando!" The man's voice is angry. And she knows, instinctively, that she's made him angry. This is her fault.

"He heard you two arguing, he was scared! He didn't understand-" The woman's voice sounds desperate, full of pain. Her hand drops as shame fills her. She's disappointed her again. Her heart sinks.

"He threw him through a window! He can't lash out at people every time he is afraid-"

"He thought he was going to hurt you, the way he was shouting! He's just a little boy, he doesn't understand!"

"He is going to kill someone if he doesn't learn to control it. He needs to be trained. We can't handle him." The man's voice is final, and the tears overflow from her eyes, her chest hurting. He doesn't want her anymore. She's done it again, without meaning to. Every time she tries to be good, she messes it up.

"Han, he is too young-" the woman starts to protest weakly, but he interrupts her.

"I'm not going to sit by and watch my son become a monster. We are sending him to Luke."

She tries to drag herself awake from the painful dream, even as it fades. The word monster is pounding in her chest, tendrils of pain reaching out from her heart. When she finally snaps her eyes open, it is still dark. Ben is sleeping beside her, she can make out his dark hair flopped over his eyes, his face half buried in a pillow.

Tears make her eyes burn as she fights the urge to wake him, to comfort him. Does he even know his dream has slipped through to her? How does she begin to comfort him over what is likely a horrible memory? His face looks relaxed, and she decides to let him sleep. The dream has already passed, and she is uncertain he'd even want to talk about it.

She tries to calm down, watching him sleep. Her heart aches, but eventually her eyes grow tired again, watching him breathe deeply. When she falls back asleep, the dreams stay away for a long time.

Morning

The noise of the comms panel near the front door going off wakes her, even as she stubbornly turns her face into his pillow to try to hang onto the retreating grasp of sleep. She hears his voice coming from the living quarters, and then silence falls again.

The bed moves as he climbs onto it, and she feels the brush of his fingertips moving her hair back from her face. He lines her neck with small kisses before reaching her cheek.

"Time to wake up," he breathes.

Jeyna rolls around to face him, reaching to pull him to her. The soft chuckle that leaves his chest vibrates against her face, as she pushes herself into him. "No…" she mutters, stubborn in her sleepiness.

Her hands find the edges of his shirt, and she slides her fingertips up underneath, tracing his skin in random patterns. He lets her, until her hands find the waist of his bottoms, casuals he had slept in. She dares to slip her fingertips under the band, finding the shape of his hip before he grabs her hands.

"Behave," he warns lowly, removing her searching touch.

She groans as sleep finally vanishes entirely from her brain, remembering the previous day's discovery. The Knights of Ren are on board, and they can't be allowed to see into Ben's mind. If they did, she wonders, what would make them turn on him? Would they see he is not ruled by the dark side, if given that glimpse inside his thoughts?

Jeyna peeks at him, finding his hair tossled and messy. His eyes are light in the morning, the honey brown shade pronounced as he meets her gaze. He smiles, just a lazy twitching of his lips upward.

She feels her heart lift at the sight. The small action makes his beauty so much brighter. She can't stop herself, climbing onto his lap to straddle him, her hands reaching up to his hair to comb it back from his face.

"The droid is fully functional. We should get to it soon," Ben says slowly, even as his hands rise up the backs of her thighs, sliding under the borrowed shirt she still wears to cup her bottom.

"Of course," she agrees, but her hands are tracing his features. Jeyna guides her thumb along his cheekbone, her fingertips down to his angular jaw. His eyes fall closed as he lets his head fall back against the pillows. She's looking at his lips, full and soft and inviting.

"Behave," he repeats gently. "I don't have the energy to train again already."

"Is that where you went? To train?" she asks. Her mind supplies the images for her, of sweat and muscles beneath clinging black clothes. Of the shower afterwards, that she had smelled on his skin as he'd climbed into the bed besides her. Her imagination fills in the gaps, how he'd look with his hair drenched, how she'd lick the water droplets from his skin with her tongue. She doesn't bother fighting her lust, losing herself in the fantasies as she licks her lips while staring at his.

Ben groans, his hands moving to grip her hips suddenly, tightly. "You mean to torture me," he mutters, eyes slitting open to give her a glare.

"What?" she asks innocently.

"Your mind is filthy," he accuses, rolling her suddenly so she finds herself pinned beneath him. He bends down, his mouth hovering near her ear. "As soon as we get what we need from Nar Shaddaa, I'm taking you back to that planet you liked so much."

Her heart pounds at the threat. "What would you take me there for?"

Jeyna's eyes fall closed as his fingers rise between her legs, brushing against her. "You know exactly what I would take you there for. You've imagined it a dozen different ways, haven't you?"

His voice is husky, emotional, before he caresses her lips with his. Her heart is stammering inside her chest with the accusation, even as she knows it is true. She breaks away from his kiss to argue defensively, "You've thought of it too." She'd seen it, when their minds had been connected and they had gotten lost in a shared fantasy. He laughs, the sound is enthralling to her. She wants to hear it again, but he captures her in a kiss that quickly becomes heated.

He breaks it off, pulling back. "But for now, I think we should focus on the droid." She sighs, flopping her head back onto the pillow in exasperation.

Later

"Greetings, Master. And Master's meatbag," the droid greets them as they enter the maintenance bay.

"Greetings, HK," Jeyna replies. Ben says nothing, picking up the maintenance report that's been left on the workstation to scroll through the notes.

"Do you remember who programmed you to serve me, if your primary master is dead?" she asks curiously.

"Correction: My primary master is absent, not dead," the droid replies. She frowns. It's been thousands of years since Revan's time. Doubtless no matter what happened to him after leaving known space, he is surely dead. She catches Ben's gaze above the datapad, and he quirks an eyebrow at her curiously.

"But who programmed you with your current directives?" She pushes. "Was it Revan?"

The droid's red eyes are unnerving to her, and she looks away. She's never encountered a droid that is so unsettling before, its body tall and clearly built to be resilient, its eyes suggesting malice even as she reassures herself that it is only a droid. It cannot have a will of its own beyond its programming.

"Explanation: The last secondary master I served programmed me to wait on Nar Shaddaa. That was the Exile, Meetra Surik."

She's surprised by the revelation. "Why did Surik want you to wait on Nar Shaddaa?"

"Conjecture: I believe it was so I would show you to Revan's vault on the moon," the droid admits. "However, be assured I can be of much more service to you than a simple guide. I am a highly capable unit, programmed to infiltrate wherever you should need me to go, and put an end to hostilities. You need only to provide a target."

"I'm sure she finds that highly reassuring," Ben comments sarcastically, interrupting. "But can you take us to this vault?"

The droid turns its head towards him. "I do not serve you, Meatbag."

Jeyna is amused to see him roll his eyes slightly, looking annoyed. "Can you take us to the vault, HK?" she repeats. The droid makes a noise that can only be described as a huff. She's never heard such a sound issue from something made of only metal before.

"Reluctant confirmation: Of course, Master. I would be thrilled to accompany you on such a mission. Perhaps there we will encounter something you need killed."

Approaching Nar Shaddaa

She stays in the cockpit with him during the flight down to the smuggler's moon. They take the black command shuttle, accompanied by two other shuttles loaded with stormtroopers and two more Knights of Ren. She can tell these Knights are different only by the weapons they carry, and their masks.

The sight of the First Order ships surrounding the space around the moon fills her with tension. "Has there been any problems with the blockade?" she asks. Hopefully they can end it soon, before any struggles with the Hutts or other crime syndicates.

"Nothing I can't manage," he replies, and she cringes at the sound of his voice, once again distorted by the helmet.

The coordinates the droid provided takes them to a rundown lower level of the moon, nearly abandoned. When they disembark the ship it is as dark as night outside. Jeyna realizes they are on the dark side of the moon, as it is tidally locked to Nal Hutta. The few lights down this low to the surface are covered in grime or broken, so they proceed onward in the shadows.

He orders the stormtroopers to establish a perimeter as HK assures them they are almost there, approaching what looks to be a dilapidated cantina. They enter the building, and it is falling apart inside. Dirt covers every surface, and it looks like over time someone has broken in and trashed the place. Tables and chairs are broken apart, and graffiti decorates the bar and walls.

They pass through a storage room in the back, entering a forgotten alley way. It looks like the only way to get to it is through the storage room of the cantina, and the alley is otherwise bare. The droid strides forward faster, raising its hand to strike a sign down from the wall, the writing on it too corroded to make out. Jeyna squints at what is revealed, however.

A small security pad is mounted to the ferrocrete. HK wastes no time punching in a very long code, and she stumbles back in surprise when the entire wall begins to shudder. It groans as it slides upwards, the hidden gears sounding stiff from disuse.

Where the wall had been, is now a large doorway into what appears to be a small room, bare except for a lever.

"What is this, HK?" she asks, hesitantly. She flinches as the two Knights come into her peripheral vision, standing at either side of the space. She had nearly forgotten they were stalking along behind her and Ben, they were so silent.

"The elevator, Master. It is quite far down. Shall we begin the descent?" the droid asks, stepping into the newly revealed space. Its metal arm reaches out, hovering over the lever.

She looks to Ben, her nerves getting the better of her. Something about this is creeping her out, her intuition telling her not to find what is hidden beneath their feet. His mask turns towards her, silent for a minute.

When he answers, it is not what she wanted to hear. "We've come this far. We should continue."