Ben
I was struggling to get up, but the wound on my thigh made my leg worthless. And, exhaustion made my movements slow.
Was it exhaustion or the pain medication the healer had given me?
Probably both.
I'd just gotten my feet under me when I felt ice prickle my spine, a sensation I hadn't felt in months.
I looked up, and gasped to see Rey standing in front of me.
"Rey-"
She rushed forward, her arms going around me as I clung to her,crushing her to me.
"What-" I choked out, my voice muffled against her shoulder. "Where are you?"
She pulled away to look at me, her hands going to either side of my face. "I'm still on the ship." She explained, her fingers gently combing through my hair.
"Where?" I begged. She shouldn't have been out of bed. "You're sick."
And, in truth, she looked like she was a breath away from death's door, her skin grayed, her eyes sunken in. Even her lips were white.
"I'm ok." She insisted. "I'm safe, Trugden is with me."
Trugden. The mix of exhaustion and pain medication was overwhelming, and with knowing Trudgen was with Rey, I relaxed.
"You're hurt." She urged me back toward my seat.
I shook my head. "It's nothing." I wanted to get to her. I needed to have her in my arms again. I needed to see her, feel her, breathe her in. I didn't matter as long as the antidotes had worked.
But, a quick look to my left proved my words to be a lie.
The white of the bandage was already darkening with red. I'd ripped it open again. And, I was starting to tremble with the effort it took to stand.
Rey's gaze followed mine, and she frowned, a tiny line appearing between her brows. "You need to let them put you into a tank."
A tank would mean I'd be sedated for a few days while I was submerged in bacta. I literally hated bacta tanks, from the smell of the goo to the hideous white diaper they'd put me in.
"A suit, then." She amended. The suit was little better. I wouldn't be sedated, but I'd be in a puffy wet suit, and still in a glorified white diaper.
I brought a hand up to lightly touch her face. "I just got you back." I'd had to be away from her for days while I found the antidote to save her. I didn't want to waste time on myself now.
She put her hand over mine and smiled. "I'll be right here when you wake up." She promised.
I wanted so much to believe her, but I noticed that her mind was quiet, and she exuded nothing but calm.
That could mean either she was perfectly fine with being in bunny scrubs on the Finalizer, surrounded by a massive regime whose every member wanted to kill her, or, she was hiding something. And, going to quite a bit of trouble to keep it from me.
My eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"
Her smile faded, but she recovered quickly. "I just want you better."
"Don't lie to me." I told her, sudden anger making my tone harsher than I meant. My hand dropped from her face. "Where are you?" I asked again.
She frowned, panic lacing her features. "I'm on the ship."
My answering growl was accompanied by a violent shudder as the Force seeped off of me.
Rey frowned, and her shields broke. The flood of emotions hit me so hard, it almost knocked me over.
Despair, mourning, hunger, confusion, loss but most of all fear. Fear so intense it had my own pulse quickening.
I looked at her, confusion pulling my brows together. "What-" But then I heard them. At first it was nothing but whispers, tiny mutterings in the back of my mind. Then, they grew so that soon all I could hear was a roar of voices.
Desperate voices of children pleading, crying, screaming for help. They'd been trying to get help since they'd been taken, but their abilities were so new, and they were untrained, and their cries had gone unheard.
I looked up, meeting Rey's gaze, realizing that she's been talking to them the day that I came back with the antidote. "Where are you?" I asked a third time.
"I'm not sure." She confessed. "I followed their voices here."
I considered for a moment. "I'll follow the Bond." I needed to get to her. She was overwhelmed, and scared, and the poison wasn't completely out of her system. She shouldn't have been up, she was still weak.
"No!" She hissed, and I recoiled, staring at her in confusion. "You're hurt." She reminded me. "You need to heal."
I shook my head, and opened my mouth to assure her that I was fine, when she cut me off.
"Ben, please." She begged. "Take a few hours in the tank, I'll handle this."
"They-" I said, referring to the children. "Need help now. You can't handle this on your own." And, I wouldn't want her to.
I called my Knights to me, who'd been waiting out in the hallway for orders.
I waited long enough for a healer to treat my wound with bacta spray, but still had to use the Force to stand.
We rode a cart, and I followed the Bond, which led us to a completely bare hallway.
I spotted Trugden, standing guard in front of an unmarked patch of hallway.
It took more effort than I cared to admit to actually walk to him. "Where are they?" I asked.
A piece of the wall opened beside him, and I stepped in.
It was worse than I'd thought. Even worse than I feared. I set my jaw, looking at their faces.
They varied in age, varied in species, and I noticed both male and female children. They were dirty, most still in the simple clothing they'd been wearing when they'd been taken. Some were sick, and all were underfed.
"Ben." I heard Rey call, and turned to see her seated to my left, with a child no more than three standard years in her lap. There was another child curled up by her side.
"Ap'lek." I called, but I did not get an answer. I looked behind me to find him staring with wide, horrified eyes, unable to keep the devastation off of his face. "Ap'lek." I called again.
He blinked, and looked up. I saw his throat Bob as he swallowed hard.
"Get the kitchen open." I requested. "Have a meal prepared immediately."
He nodded.
"I need every available nurse here." I went on. "And, have rooms prepared."
He nodded again and disappeared out of the entryway.
Within the hour, nurses and droids filled the room. The children were given a health screen, and those who were ill or wounded were taken to the medical bay. Those who remained were fed, then taken to the rooms prepared to be bathed, and put in suitable clothing.
I felt Rey take my hand, and curled her fingers around mine. "Why didn't you just tell me?" I asked, without looking at her. But, I knew the answer. The pain and blood loss from my leg was making me dizzy, and without rest, the bacta spray had been rendered useless.
She was right, I needed to go into the tank. At least for a few hours.
"And, you were right." She said. "I couldn't have done all of that on my own."
"Do you have a plan, at least?" I wanted to know, giving her a sideways glare.
" I always have a plan." She answered simply.
"Great," I quipped. "I'd love to hear it."
"We have to shut down the storm trooper program, effective immediately, and return all of these children to their families. The troopers that are currently under your employ, we need to send to rebuild what's salvageable on the world's hardest hit by Hux." She told me.
My eyes widened. She really did have a plan.
"Returning all of these children will take months." I pointed out.
"And the officials won't like it." She stuck her lip out in a pout. "They'll probably call for my public execution."
"We can't have that." I commented, keeping my tone light. "I could pardon you, but that won't explain why you're staying on board. With me."
"No, we'll have to have the Bond verified and have an obscenely large ceremony." She replied, casually.
I blinked, and looked down at her. My heart began to pound. "Ceremony?" I repeated. She wasn't saying what I thought she was saying. Being Kylo Ren's wife, being his Empress wasn't what she wanted. I knew that.
She shrugged with one shoulder. "That's just my plan."
I turned to face her. "Rey, a ceremony would be followed by a coronation. You'd be my Queen."
"Well," She sighed. "That wasn't much of a proposal, but I accept."
