Author's Notes: Yes another update in just as many days! Hope you guys don't mind all the reading I'm sending your way. *Manic grin * As a reminder, in case anyone forgot, this is a 16+ rating. Sooo...enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever owned Star Wars. I simply play in their world.

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Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away...

Rey

Another world, another place to hide. Constantly running but at least now we could rest.

We were on a moon close to Dathomir in the Outer Rim.

Sparsely inhabited but lush with life and vegetation. Sprawling forests and clear lakes between peaks of craggy mountains and rolling hills.

Until we could find a more permanent solution, this was going to be home for the next month.

Leia had an idea for where we would make our final base but she had sent Finn and Poe to scout the location.

I was with ground crew, setting up transmissions and working on the other ships to get them flight ready should we need to leave in a hurry.

I wonder if she knew how much I loved anything green and growing. It was as though I could feel my soul breathing, parched for so long on a desert world.

"Go Rey."

I turn and look at Leia, a definitive twinkle in her aged face.

"General?"

"I can feel you vibrating with energy. You want to go out and explore don't you?"

"I," I tuck a strand behind my ear, "am I that obvious?"

"Yes,"a chuckle and she waves me off, "so go. Take your communicator with you so we can track you in case you run into trouble."

"Thank you, General."

"Leia...and you had better be sure I'm going to put you to work when you get back."

She startles me into laughter and I see her smile, some of the burden lifting from her in that short instance.

"Go."

I give her a quick hug and she pulls me into a tight embrace before releasing me.

I gather my things and take off, letting the Force guide me where it will.

Now that I am alone, my thoughts go only in one direction.

Towards Ren and the endless ache for him that grows ever more consuming each day we are apart.

The untouched beauty of this world only intensifies my need to see him.

"Ren, I wish you were here," I murmur as pick my way through a sprawling forest, the shadow of cliffs in the distance yet, "so I could share this with you."

"Another green world I see."

The sun is a glowing disk in an azure sky but tendrils of ice and rain brush across my skin.

"Ren!"

The sound of his dark voice filling the air with his presence as he emerges from the dappled forest. We haven't connected like this since I awoke on the edge of that nightmare world called Exegol.

I still wake up, shivering and terrified some nights, that sinister voice whispering in my head.

That had been over a week ago.

I turn my thoughts away from that place and back to him.

He's in his armor but not his cloak or gloves. I wonder what he was doing before the Force brought him to me.

"What are you doing?"

"Practicing." I give him a jaunty look as he raises an eyebrow at me. "I've been reading the Jedi manuals I found in the Falcon and they say a Jedi should have great dexterity and stamina when using the Force."

I blow out a breath. "I'm trying to figure out what that means."

"You'll understand better if I demonstrate."

He's already removing the armor. The weather on this moon is humid thanks to the vast tracks of forests and I see him roll up the arms of his shirt.

Which looks vaguely familiar but I can't be sure its the one I bought him on Pralis.

A small thrill of pleasure goes through me at the thought that he wears it when I'm not around.

Like he's carrying a piece of me with him.

"How do you..."

But he's already in motion. I'm in one of the ancient forests but there is a small mountain behind me, more like an over-glorified hill, that at is at least ten meters tall.

I watch, my mouth open, as Ren leaps from the ground to the top of it in seconds.

"How the hell did you do that!"

I can practically feel his smugness when he leaps off in a controlled dive, twisting mid-air to land on his feet barely a foot from me.

He looks at me, eyes gleaming and his hair wind-tousled.

My pulse leaps at the sight of him, he has far too much power over my heart.

"You're showing off." I accuse him but I can feel the grin on my face, I couldn't help admiring his...form.

Damn if his confidence wasn't arousing to me.

A lift of his broad shoulders. "Perhaps."

I stalk over to him and poke him in the chest.

"Show me how you did that."

"Dexterity and stamina."

"Ren!" I shove him and he shakes his head at me, catching my wrist and turning me in his arms.

"You must use the Force."

"I kind of figured that out, be a little more specific."

"Focus your intent. You want to reach the top of the cliff? How?"

"By," I remember his leap from the ground, "jumping."

I had to use the Force to boost my own strength, give me the leverage I needed to make the jump.

He let's go of me and takes a step back.

"For a beginning lesson, trying running to build up your momentum."

Again he's in motion and I blink when he's once more standing on top of the cliff, looking down over the edge at me.

I can see him lift an eyebrow in my direction, challenge in his unwavering gaze.

I bit the inside of my cheek. I can do this.

I back up several feet from the base, take a calm breath, and take off running.

There, the small boulder to the left, I turn and use that as my leaping point, feeling the Force flow through me and my momentum accelerates me towards the edge.

I shoot upward, Ren catching me by the wrist, swinging me over and onto the ground.

"Wow..." my heart is pounding and for a moment, I felt like I could fly into the air.

"Not a bad first effort."

I smack him lightly across the arm. "It wouldn't kill you to give me a compliment, you know that?"

"I thought I just did."

"Oh I'm going to make you eat those words!"

I can't help laughing at the dubious look he casts in my direction.

"You need to work on your agility and your stamina if you want to make impossible leaps."

"How?"

He raises that eyebrow at me, obsidian fire filled with challenge that I am eager to accept.

"Follow me...if you can."

He takes off running across the cliff, heading towards another sprawling forest in the distance.

I am already chasing him, catching up quickly but then we are at the forests edge and he is dodging between low branches and leaping over fallen logs.

Like this is one, huge obstacle course to him.

I don't think, I just let go and allow the Force to guide me.

I can see him, so close that I can almost reach out and touch him.

I barely miss getting smacked in the face with a branch.

"Hey!"

He glances behind to give me an arrogant look and we pick up speed.

I've never had so much fun in my life running after him.

Dodge and turn, leaping and jumping. Just when I think I've caught him, he picks up the pace again.

My lungs are burning, so are my legs, but my spirit is flying.

There, he turns around the base of an enormous tree and I catch the flash of dark color as he leaps into the air.

I track his movement with my eye and see that he's on a branch several meters off the ground, his arm resting on his drawn up leg.

Waiting to see what I will do.

I don't hesitate, I leap from the ground and I find myself gripping the mossy covering of the branch, just barely able to swing myself up next to him.

"Better."

I am too winded to reply...so I stick my tongue out at him instead.

He turns his head, lifting his hand but not before I see the flash of his lips turning upward before he hides it from me.

"Come on, we've barely started...unless you're too tired to go on?"

"Hmph!"

I leap down from the tree, the jolt making my teeth rattle, and I give him a smug look.

"Just try and keep up!"

I take off at a dead run, hearing his footstep almost instantly.

The height from the branch let me see part of the terrain and I knew the forest was going to open up soon.

Weaving, leaping, I can practically feel his breath on my neck.

The forest ends...and I nearly run off of another cliff.

"Whoa!"

Arms around my waist, swinging be back from the edge.

His skin is warm from the exertion, the heat of his body like a furnace.

"That was close. Do you run with your eyes closed?"

"I thought it was further away than this."

I let go of him to peer over the edge. It had to be a least a thirty meter drop into an open meadow. Not too far away I could see a lake shimmering beneath the gaps of tree's where sunlight broke through.

"Well...do we try to find a path down?"

There had to be a way. I didn't have my grappling gun and I doubted Ren had one on him. All I saw was the saber clipped to his belt, mine was strapped to my waist.

"We already have one."

I see him backing up from the edge, a gleam of wild fire in his eyes.

"Ren...no you can't be serious! That is at least a thirty meter drop!"

"Just like flying Rey. Trust me."

"Ren," but my protest falls on deaf ear as he races past me to the edge...and over it.

"REN!"

I'm on my knee's, my fingers gripping the edges as I watch, unable to look away as he dives towards the ground.

He flips mid-way in the air and suddenly he's on the ground, standing there as if he hadn't just dived head first off of a cliff.

The man was insane.

"Come down Rey!" I can hear his voice but my heart is still trying to crawl out of my throat. "Trust me! Trust in yourself!"

I want to be a Jedi, to learn all that there is in the way of the Force.

This...this was just another lesson.

Ren was down there unharmed.

I'm on my feet, I can't think about this. If I do the fear will take over.

I have to trust myself just like he told me to.

I back up remembering his running start and I close my eyes.

I'm just as insane as he is.

I run straight off the cliff, the wind tangling in my hair and for a moment, I am weightless.

He was right...I feel as though I could fly...but then gravity pays me a visit and I am in free fall.

I should be terrified...but all I feel is exhilaration, my body knows what to do and I tuck into a roll, so that I can land on my feet, not my head.

Except I forgot to ask Ren how I slow my descent.

I was going to crash into the ground. Hard.

Damn this was going to hurt!

The wind catches me and I begin to slow much faster that I should and just like that I feel his arms catching me by the waist, swinging me into an arc as he plants me on my feet.

My nails dig furrows into his bare arms where I grabbed onto him.

My legs are shaking and I'm still getting used to the fact that I am in one piece.

Being held in his arms.

I look up at him and I see laughter and approval in them.

"Well done."

"Ren! You...you knew that was going to happen to me!"

I am laughing and shaking at the same time.

He tricked me! He knew I didn't know how to stop in time!

"Of course. It's the only way to learn. If I had told you what to expect beforehand, you would have overthought it and let fear take hold."

I couldn't fault him on that. I had been thinking the same thing when I was standing up there.

But that didn't mean I was going to let him get away with it.

"You're going to pay for that!" Adrenaline still spiking my blood as I shove him off-balance. A strangle sound from his throat, followed by a shriek from me as he pulls me down with him, our bodies in motion.

We're on an incline and we keep rolling until somehow I end on top of him, straddling him.

My hands are on his chest, his on my hips and I am breathless with laughter.

He is looking up at me, a brightness in him that I haven't seen since Pralis.

I tap him lightly on the chest.

"Ha! I win this one!"

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

Playful words despite the calm mien on his face, as though he hadn't just tumbled through the meadow with me.

"I'm on top." My lips curve in smug superiority just before he shifts slightly beneath me.

My throat dries as I realize the position I put us in with my little shove.

His fingers dig into my hips, pressing me against him and heat pools low in my belly, making my breath halt.

His eyes darken, sharp awareness scorching the air between us.

I can feel the want in his body, hard and thrumming beneath me.

I shove at his chest, scrambling off of him quickly.

That...was unexpected.

I know he's not really here but I'm having a hard time convincing my body of this fact.

I turn and he's still laying there, propped up on his elbows, watching me with those haunting eyes of his.

I blow out a breath...and offer him my hand.

"Come one...I think I saw a lake not far from here and I'm dying for a drink."

A brief hesitation, a whisper of something in his gaze and then he is reaching up to clasp my wrist, letting me pull him to his feet.

My breath stutters as he looms over me. I always forget how he makes me feel when I stand next to him. Aware of myself, not as a Jedi, not as a scavenger, but as a woman.

A different feeling altogether.

"I'll race you."

He opens his mouth but I'm already turning, running full tilt towards edge of the meadow where the forest meets up again.

I glance only once behind me and laugh, he's nearly caught up, and I disappear into the woods.

I can smell the water, I don't know how, but I do. Clean and clear, drawing me closer until I halt at the edges.

The light dappling through the tree's, the soft waves shimmering in the breeze.

The scent of ice and rain at my side and he is standing next to me.

It's quiet here, peaceful...and secluded. We stand on a small hill, the trek down to the water not far but I can feel the sweat plastering my shirt to my back, my hair filled with leaves and twigs from the meadow.

The water calls to me, I can practically feel it on my skin.

"Rey what are you...doing."

I'm pulling my shirt over my head, tossing it over a small branch. The banded cloth across my chest and my lightweight pants that barely cut across my knee are not exactly made for swimming, but it'll do.

I look over at Ren who is watching me with smoldering eyes and I drop the belt around my waist that holds my saber.

"I'm going for a swim."

I race up the hill until I reach the peak.

The drop from here to the water is a hell of lot closer than the damn cliff I jumped off earlier.

"Rey I don't think..."

But I'm already diving, the rest of his words lost to the wind, the cool rush of water as it closes over me.

I was right, the lake is deep enough that I can swim down touch it's sandy bottom before I shoot back up to the surface.

The sweet gasp of air, the cooling of my skin as the breeze dries the water. I look up to see Ren looking down at me from the top of the hill, his arm crossed.

"This feels amazing! Come in!"

He's shaking his head at me and I splash water in his direction knowing full well it can't reach him.

"Don't tell me the great Kylo Ren is afraid to get a little wet?"

Mocking words, a challenge in them and I know he can hear me.

"You'll regret those words."

I roll my eyes at him, still paddling in the water below the ledge.

"Oooh, I'm terrified."

I can practically hear his growl from here and then he strips the shirt from his body.

A flush of heat, spiraling inside of me at the glimpse of his broad chest just as he dives off the cliff and I forget how to breath.

I lose my footing and I duck beneath the water, coming back up with sputtering gasp and water streaming in my eyes.

"Ren?" I push wet strands away but I don't see him. He hasn't emerged from the depths and I move closer where I saw him dive.

"Ren? Where are you?" I turn in circles and still he doesn't surface and I begin to panic, thinking to dive down to see if he hurt himself.

Hands around my waist and I let out a yell as he comes out of the water, lifting me up in the process.

Water streaming down his body, his hair plastered to his face and that glint of fire in his eyes.

My hands on his shoulders as he dangles me above the water, only my legs still submerged.

"I told you I would make you regret those words."

"Ren!" Laughter in my voice, relief to find him safe, "put me down!"

"Why should I?"

His body moves against mine as we tread water and I move my hands across his smooth skin, until I am cupping his face and lean down.

"Because I told you to."

I kiss his mouth, my hands gripping his hair and I am back in the water, pressed up in his arms.

Our tongues tangle, his strong hands digging into me and I break away, inhaling much needed air.

I splash water at him with my free arm and he releases me in order to protect himself.

"Ha! You want me, you have to catch me first!" I splash water at him again and he turns, diving for me.

But I'm already swimming away from him. He surfaces and the battle is on.

I yelp when he splashes me, the cold water a sharp contrast to my sun-heated skin and we're at it again.

I can't help but snicker when I catch him in the face, sputtering and pushing dark strands away from his eyes.

"Oh no...no you don't!"

I know that look on his face and he dives once more beneath the surface. I know he's cheating. Using the Force to hold his breath longer, to move quicker.

My only chance is to reach the bank and I swim for it.

I'm almost there when he catches me again.

"Ren!"

Once more he swings me out of the water...and puts me on the bank, my lower legs dangling in the water as he rests his arms on my thighs, trapping me in place.

"I believe I win this time."

Smug words, the curve of his mouth highly satisfied.

I reach down and run my fingers through his dark hair, laughter flowing through me.

"Okay, fine, you win. How do you swim so well?"

"I learned when I was young," lazy words as he lays his head on his arms, letting me pet him, "it's not something you tend to forget."

The feel of his cool, silken hair beneath my fingers is a pleasure all on its own.

He moves, wrapping is arms around my waist, burying his face into my stomach.

"Ren," I'm still stroking his hair, "what are you-"

The press of his mouth, a hot kiss against my cooling skin is a shock and my body arches in response, stealing my breath.

My fingers tighten in his hair and I feel his mouth moving upward, a trail of fire that I don't want to stop.

He's out of the water, looming over me and I lose my grip on his hair, falling back on my elbows.

His hand around my neck, his mouth on mine and I tremble with violent arousal as I feel the slide of his naked skin on mine.

Our tongues tangle as he presses me into the fragrant grass, my arms around his neck, the feel of him my only thought.

His hands roam my body, a hot, possessive caress that has me gasping into his mouth, my legs coming around his.

The feel of his lips leaving mine, tasting my skin and my nails dig into his back at the devastation he is causing in me.

A sharp, throb of pain as he bites down on my neck in response to my nails.

"Gods...Ben!"

He doesn't stop but only presses harder into me and I want him to hold me closer.

I don't want him to stop, I want more and I feel like I might die if this ends.

His mouth on mine as we tangle in each other, arms and legs and it's not enough.

His fingers on the band across my chest and I want to tell him yes, I don't care about anything else...

"Rey! Where are you? Are you here!"

My mouth wrenching from his at the sound of Finn's voice.

"Rey! Can you hear us?"

Poe's voice now.

I make a frustrated sound that mingles with the low growl vibrating from Ben.

What are they doing here? They were suppose to be gone for hours yet.

I twist in his arms, searching the bank to see if can spot their silhouette in the distance.

His mouth is on my back and I forget about Poe and Finn, just the feel of him against me.

"Ignore them. They can't see me."

His mouth moving across my skin and I want to give in to the throb of desire I hear in him, but his words...

I pause, a memory surfaces.

Finn...a far off look in his gaze, as though listening to something...

It was the same look I had seen in Leia's eyes, the same I had in mine...when I connected with the Force.

"I..don't think that's entirely true."

A stillness in him,his body lifting from mine and I turn to look at him, panic in my gaze.

"You have to leave, now!"

"Rey what are you-" his eyes narrow, his focus turning outward, "not Dameron. He is deaf to everything around him...but Finn...the renegade."

I should have known he would figure it out and I scramble to my feet.

I reach out, pulling my shirt from the tree in the distance, along with my belt and saber.

Ben is also on his feet, doing the same.

My skin is damp and the cloth catches and I snarl in frustration as I yank it back into place.

My hair streams water down my back and I don't care.

I turn to look at Ben...and see the cold, hard gaze of Ren staring back at me.

"He's not a Jedi," I tell him pressing my hands to his chest, willing him to listen to me, "but I think he might be Force sensitive. I can't take the risk he can see you."

"Are you afraid that he will see me...or see us together?"

I thump him hard on the chest for that.

"That's not what I mean! They don't see you the way I do...don't know you the way I do."

"Ask me if I care."

"I care!" I lift my hand to his face, "Please Ren...for me. You have to go."

I didn't want him to go, I wanted him to stay.

Our Bond, it was stronger somehow. I felt no pain and the feel of him...it was though he was here with me.

I see the relenting in his eyes, but no less angry.

His hands cover mine as he captures my mouth in one last furious kiss between us.

"I'll go...but only this one time, for you Rey."

I nod my head and drop my hands. A hard, blazing look in his gaze and he turns...and is gone.

Finn and Poe are coming from a different direction than what Ren and I took to get here.

"Rey! There you are! We've been searching for you."

Finn's broad grin, happy to see me.

I have the sudden urge to punch him.

"How the hell did you get all the way out here?"

Poe, that cocky grin on his face.

I wanted to dump him in the lake.

"I was exploring. Caught a glimpse of this place."

I'm struggling to rein in the anger, to remember that they are friends, not intruders.

"Why are your clothes soaked?"

Finn, his endless questions.

Poe is looking at me, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Umm Rey...were you swimming?"

"Yeah, it's hot and I needed to cool off. Something wrong with that?"

I have my saber back around my waist and I quickly pull my hair up from the spare tie I keep in the pouch.

"Nope," Poe holding up his hands in a gesture of peace, "nothing at all."

"Uh Rey," Finn moving closer to me,a confused look in his eyes, "what's that on your neck?"

"What's what?"

He toss me his blaster, the chrome plating acting like a mirror. I pull it up...and see the small, red mark on my neck.

The exact spot Ben had bitten when I scored his back with my nails only minutes ago.

My body throbs with renewed tension and I quickly toss the blaster back to Finn.

"I was practicing in the woods, probably got hit by a stray branch and didn't realize it."

I keep my voice calm, refusing to lift my hand, to touch where he had left his mark on me.

I hoped he still wore the scratches on his back from me.

"So...why are you guys back so early? I though Leia sent you to scout our new base?"

"Yeah, well turns out our 'new' base is actually an older, forgotten base that is less than a parsec from our current location."

Poe speaking, excitement in his voice at the prospect of a more, permanent place to settle in.

I want to be excited, I do, but all I can think of is Ben. I can still feel his arms around me, his mouth on my body.

The throb of his voice, filling me with unrelenting arousal.

"Rey...you okay?"

I blink and remember that I'm not alone.

"Yeah..that's great news,"I manage a smile for both of them, "have you told Leia about this?"

"Yeah, she pointed us in your direction when you weren't with the main force."

"Well we had better get back. I want to hear more about our new home. Where is it located exactly?"

"Ajan Kloss."

Why did that sound so familiar?

I'm sure Leia would fill us in and I'd find answers that way.

I turn from them, not even thinking about it as I leap onto a boulder jutting from the hill and I'm standing in the same spot Ren and I found overlooking the lake.

"Whoa Rey! How did you do that?"

Finn, whistling his surprise and I look back down at them.

"I told you, I've been practicing. See you back at camp!"

"Wait Rey..."

But I don't wait, I take off running. I can't face them, can't look at them until I get Ben out of my blood.

I knew, had they not interrupt us, I would have given myself to him there on the lake.

Whatever hesitation I had felt about being with Ben on Pralis Six was gone.

Maybe it was when he saved me in the shadows of Exegol, when I looked at him and thought home, that has changed me.

My hand covers the mark on my neck, a vivid reminder that what we shared was real, and I don't want it to fade.

I don't know how much longer I can take being parted from him like this.

Something has to give...soon or this raging fire inside me was going to drive me to madness.