The Ache Of Emptiness

Rey stood in the midst of the Festival of the Ancestors and paused for a moment to watch a group of Aki-Aki children. They were all sitting on a mat and seemed to be listening to a story. Their round and pink cheeks rose in grins and laughter and Rey couldn't help but smile at the heartwarming scene. But her smile faltered slightly when she was reminded of how she never got to have this. Yes, the Resistance was like her adopted family and she loved them dearly, but she never got to have a childhood or time with her parents. Her heart ached with the sudden loneliness that washed over her. This place very much reminded her of Jakku, but Pasaana was full of life and celebration.

She felt something tug at her tunic and turned to see a young Aki-Aki girl in a green robe. She spoke softly in a language that Rey didn't recognize, but luckily, C3PO was there to translate.

"She is saying, 'Welcome,'" 3PO offered. Rey knelt so she was eye-to-eye with the Aki girl. Her voice was soft and melodious and it put Rey at ease. The local was holding a beaded necklace and seemed to be offering it to her. Rey bowed her head so the girl could place the necklace around her neck.

"Thank you," Rey said as she looked down at the necklace. "What is this?" She asked. "It's beautiful." The Aki girl spoke again, seeming to smile.

"Apparently, Mistress Rey, this particular necklace symbolizes fertility and good fortune," 3PO translated. The girl seemed pleased and Rey smiled.

"Thank you very much," she said. The girl spoke again, and Rey looked at 3PO to translate.

"Her name is Nambi Ghima," he said. Rey's smile broadened.

"That's an excellent name. I'm Rey," she replied. Nambi spoke again, her dark eyes inquisitive.

"She would be honored to know your family name, too," 3PO said. Rey hesitated, surprised by the question. She didn't expect the sharp pain and emptiness in her chest. Her smile slipped and she gave a small shake of her head.

"I don't have one," she said softly. "I'm just Rey." She tried for another smile, but this one didn't quite reach her eyes. Nambi looked a bit confused, but then Rey froze and her smile vanished instantly.

She stood abruptly and quickly walked away, the wind blowing sand over her boots. Rey weaved her way through the crowd before she came to a break in the line of people. The Force tremored around her, and then suddenly she could no longer hear the chatter of conversation around her nor the whistling of the wind. Rey felt a chill run down her spine and she could barely hear the sound of the fire bursting behind her. If her world was muted, then that meant…

The sunlight around her disappeared and darkness cast over the desert. People continued on with their activities as if nothing was happening, but Rey knew better. She steeled herself before she turned to face Kylo Ren.

Kylo tried not to let his surprise carry over the Bond. He had been looking for her, but he really had no more control than she did over this. His jaw tightened and he was glad that the mask hid his face and the shakiness of his voice. His chest tightened, thinking of their last meeting. All he could do for a moment was stare at her.

Rey nearly flinched in surprise, her hand tightening on her quarterstaff. He was wearing his mask. But it was different… Rey looked closer and then she could see the red lines in the cracks of his mask. He must have repaired it. She hated that he was wearing it again, he was hiding his face behind it. Wait, did she want to see his face? No, she couldn't think like that now. Then she remembered that she was on a mission and that he could NOT find her and her friends. Her mental shields flew up, and she desperately hoped he hadn't seen anything. He didn't move and Rey was beginning to think it wasn't even him. Then she heard his voice.

"Palpatine wants you dead." His voice was low and raspier with his mask on, and it sent shivers down Rey's spine.

She swallowed hard before saying, "Serving another master?" She was surprised to hear the disappointment in her voice.

"No," he answered quickly. "I have other plans." Of course, he did.

Kylo looked at Rey and behind the safety of his mask, he stole a few seconds to openly stare at her. They had ended on such bad terms last time that it was difficult not to let his emotions overwhelm him. But it was equally, if not more difficult to ignore her. Stars, she was beautiful. The light on her face bathed her skin in a golden glow, bringing out the multicolored flecks in her hazel eyes. Her hair was blowing in an unseen breeze, and her pink lips were full and parted slightly. His eyes traveled down her slim figure without his permission and he caught himself and swore silently. His gaze rested on her neck though, she was wearing a necklace made of husk and beads. Regaining his focus, he looked back up into her eyes.

"I offered you my hand once," he said, his voice echoing through the Bond. "You wanted to take it." He paused for a moment and noted that she didn't deny it. "Why didn't you?" He remembered her face when he had offered her his hand. It was full of conflict, indecision, pain, and longing.

Rey could see her face, too, and she remembered how badly she had wanted to take his hand on the Supremacy. But Rey's gaze was unwavering and even though she could feel the nerves and anxiousness coursing throughout her entire body, she forced herself to remain calm.

Without answering his question, she retorted, "You could have killed me. Why didn't you?" The image of her kneeling helplessly on the ground in front of him as Snoke ordered him to kill her flashed through their minds. Rey could remember the terror she felt when his lightsaber had been pointed towards her chest and the relief and elation that washed over just seconds later when he saved her instead. Kylo remembered that moment, too, with perfect clarity. Her face had been pleading, terrified. And his heart had wrenched at that moment seeing her in pain.

He didn't answer her question, either. He could tell that she was denying some truth to herself, like how she had denied the truth about her parents.

"You can't hide, Rey," he said, his voice eerily calm. "Not from me."

Rey felt her heartbeat quicken when he said her name. He didn't say it very often, but when he did, it always had this strange effect on her. She felt an electric current coursing through her entire body, making her head spin. Rey tried to regain her composure. She knew that she wasn't the only one in denial here.

"I see through the cracks in your mask," she said. "You're haunted. You can't stop seeing what you did to your father." She threw an image to Kylo, in perfect clarity and detail. Han Solo's hand on his son's face as Kylo's lightsaber stabbed him through the chest. Her horrified screams. Chewie's roar of fury. The pain that she knew he felt when his father looked at him with love even as his body fell into the abyss. She threw all of it at him. He flinched visibly and satisfaction washed over Rey, but it quickly vanished when he responded.

"Do you still count the days since your parents left?" He threw an image at her this time. The thousands of tally marks that she had scratched onto the interior of her fallen AT-AT she had called home. Each mark representing another day of loneliness and abandonment. It was her turn to flinch now, and she winced as his next words cut deep. Because they were true. "Such pain in you, such anger." He began to step towards her and Rey forced herself not to back away. She would not show weakness.

She tried to calm her mind, as Leia had taught her, but when Kylo stopped only inches away from her, she lost her concentration. He was so much taller than her that she had to crane her neck back slightly. She could smell the molten iron from his mask and noticed how his shadow cast over the ground and how his boots were covered in sand as if he were truly there with her. She wanted to back away, to put some distance between them. But at the same time, she felt drawn to him as if the Force itself was drawing them together. She had to consciously stop herself from leaning towards him.

His voice was soft when he spoke and it held a touch of vulnerability, with the immense amount of tension and regret he was feeling hiding just below the surface. "I don't want to have to kill you," he said, and Rey knew he was being completely truthful here. "I'm going to find you and I'm going to turn you to the Dark side." Her gaze hardened when he said that.

Kylo regarded her and his voice lowered even more. "When I offer you my hand again, you'll take it." He could feel her turmoil of anger and pain in her. She was trying so hard to bury it, but he knew that it was there, just aching to be released. Rey's piercing eyes hardened and Kylo felt the Force churning around them, their power coupling with each other.

Rey gave Kylo a hard stare, and she said adamantly, "We'll see," echoing his words from when they had first met. When she was strapped in that cold and unforgiving interrogation chair. Kylo stared at her, not saying anything. His maddeningly calm demeanor irritated Rey more and more by each passing moment. She was about to speak again when suddenly his hand lashed out faster than the eye could see. He yanked the necklace from her neck, his hand brushing against her chest.

Kylo didn't even know what he was doing and it only fully registered with him when his hand touched her chest. She was gone, and he was left in his quarters, the necklace hanging from his hand. He stood still for a moment trying to process everything before he came to his senses and left his chambers to locate an analyst. He was close to finding her, he knew that much.

Rey's hand immediately went to her neck, searching in vain for the necklace. It was gone. When she looked back up, daylight had returned and Kylo was nowhere to be seen. She stood frozen in shock for a moment. The Bond had been so powerful that time, she could feel the Force swirling between them and it had been so thick that it felt like drowning. Then Rey's eyes widened in horror. Kriff, he would be able to find them soon enough if he hadn't already. Rey turned back around and ran to find her friends, the nape of her neck still stinging and her heart still hammering from his touch.

Author's Note: Sorry, this is a bit shorter than the last chapter. Although I'm not sure if you guys prefer longer or shorter chapters lol. I'm thinking about extending some of the scenes so they include more than just Reylo because there are a lot of other things in the film that would be really fun to write. I'm very tempted to write some of the more humorous scenes and not just the ones where there are so many feels that we can't think straight lol. I also wanted to include the majority of the Death Star sequence including Rey's vision, although Kylo does arrive shortly after so I guess that would work. What do you guys think? Also, I'm debating whether or not to include Rey talking with Luke on Ahch-To because there's a quote in the novelization that I thought was really interesting. "I gave him some of my life. In that moment I would have given him all of it … died it I had to.