~~ Sorry for the long break! Seasonal depression is rough. I will hopefully be able to work on it more now ~~
It was becoming increasingly clear that Luke did not like Rey. He spoke to her differently than he did Finn, was harsher in his criticism, and seemed to have much less patience with her. Rey tried to ignore it as much as she could, focusing instead upon the instruction he gave, but every time he snapped at her, she felt herself grow more and more irritated in spite of herself. It came to a head when Luke was testing Finn's and Rey's ability to Force-push against him.
It was weather that promised a storm, the wind whipping at the grey, waterproof cloak Rey had taken to wearing and carrying more moisture than just sea spray. The towering, anvil-shaped cloud lurked off to the west, but smaller clouds were spreading ahead of it, obscuring the sun. It wouldn't be long before the bad weather reached them.
Finn had done very well with his Force-pushes, even moving Luke back a couple of inches. Rey grinned at Finn when he returned to where she was waiting, his Force-aura radiating pride.
"Go get 'em," he whispered to Rey, giving her a bracing pat on the shoulder as she headed towards Luke. Luke watched her, his pale blue eyes losing the sparkle they'd just held. Rey took in a breath, preparing herself.
Suddenly, she was flung backwards, hitting the rocky ground hard. She felt Finn's surprise, but felt absolutely nothing from Luke.
"You must always be on guard," Luke said evenly. Rey checked her elbow, which had begun to seep blood through the bits of rock embedded in it. She brushed away the welling blood and embedded gravel and climbed back to her feet. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears as hot anger began to replace surprise.
"Try again," Luke said, as though she'd had the chance to try before. Rey braced herself, wary against another sneak attack, but this time he waited until she was ready before he pushed against her again. Rey pushed back, feeling the Force well up within her and meet the assault. The soles of her boots slipped slightly on the bare bedrock, and she remembered to anchor herself before pushing back, meeting Luke evenly.
She felt him increase the Force being used against her, and Rey found it almost easy to reach for more and meet the new level, too. She felt the Force settle into her, a by-now comfortable presence that flooded her with sudden, fierce joy as she threw herself into the competition. Now she felt him slip backwards, felt the tiniest flash of surprise from him. It fed the Force within her, which flared like a bonfire. Rey felt the anger rise within her too, which the Force responded to.
A warning pinged in her mind: this was the same feeling she'd experienced when she'd fought Finn and nearly made a terrible mistake by losing control. Rey fought to pull the Force back, to quell the wildfire that was roaring through her. It resisted. She threw herself at it, bringing the flames down bit by bit, lessening the giddy heat of power that imbued her very blood.
Rey managed to bring the intensity back down to a manageable level, and through the haze of power, she saw Luke's face. His primary expression was one of concentration, but she thought she saw in those pale eyes a strange sadness.
Then he spoke.
"I guess it was just wishful thinking on my part that made me believe you could overcome your past in order to become a true Jedi," he said, his eyes boring into hers. Rey felt cold shock run through her, but the roaring Force only faltered for a moment. Then it came back in an intense inferno that seared away her restraint, which she now realized had been a pathetic attempt to quell something wild and enthralling. It incinerated her fears and doubts, leaving only red-hot exhilaration, filling her with it. She was vaguely aware of Finn saying something, but the feeling of raw, blistering power surging through her made his words seem insignificant. She locked the Force around Luke like a vise and squeezed until she could feel the Jedi's pulse throbbing through his veins. The only sign of the strain he was under was the drop of sweat that had begun to slide down the side of his face. His eyes, however, were still icy, still utterly calm.
Rey wanted to crack that ice, to force him to yield to her. She'd won; she was stronger than he was. He should beg to be released and maybe, maybe, she would agree.
She was almost too intent upon her victory, so near, to pay much attention to the pressure that had begun to build in the back of her mind. However, it drew her just enough out of the struggle to realize that something was far, far wrong.
Luke met her eyes, and at the same moment, they dropped their Force-pushes. Sweat was now tricking down his weathered cheeks, and he gave her a nod.
"Next time don't let me goad you into losing control," he advised her, but he was clearly distracted. Rey didn't answer. She was searching internally for the source of the strange pressure. Well, pressure was as accurate a word as she could think of for the unsettling, slightly nauseating undercurrent running through the Force, raising the hairs on the back of her neck.
She looked over at Finn, who had turned and was staring out across the slate-grey ocean, head slightly cocked.
"What-?" he started to ask.
"We need to get to shelter," Luke interrupted.
"The storm?" Rey asked. But Luke shook his head.
"It's not the storm."
Unease was building within her, just like it sometimes had on Jakku. Only, now she knew the source of it. The Force was telling them that something was wrong, far wrong. She wanted to get into a safe place, and quickly. As they hurried from the rocky hilltop, the feeling grew stronger and stronger, until Rey turned to look in the direction it was emanating from.
There, mirage-like in the distance above the horizon, was what looked like a flock of dark birds. Even as she watched, pale, sheeting rain obscured them. Rey felt dread settle into her chest.
"TIE fighters," she whispered. Finn grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and half-dragged her roughly after Luke.
"Well they're sure not tourists looking for a beachfront getaway," he muttered. Rey managed to disentangle herself from his grasp and focused on navigating the long line of stairs.
"Where can we go?" she asked, raising her voice over the rising sounds of crashing waves and wind.
"There's a place," Luke called back over his shoulder, sounding a bit breathless. "A cave. We should have time to get there."
Rey wondered if he was right, but there was no other choice. She followed them down the slick steps, turning onto one of the winding walkways that encircled the island. However, instead of heading in the direction of their huts, Luke started towards a narrow flight of stairs that Rey had never noticed before.
"I need to get something!" she called out and, without waiting for a reply, she darted towards her hut, automatically using the Force to add traction on the rain-slick stone. She dove inside, slinging her staff over her shoulder and turning to the small chest where she kept all of her possessions, wrenching it open. The lightsaber lay on top of her small collection of neatly folded clothing. She snatched it up and sprinted back through the door to join the other two. Luke glanced down at the saber as she clipped it to her belt. His expression was resigned as he gave her a nod and started down the long, steep steps. Finn sucked in a deep breath then followed, Rey close behind him. She was deeply glad of the weight of the lightsaber hilt at her side and the staff against her back.
They descended the sheer cliff face as the waves clashed against the base, sending salt spray up to soak them. Rey wasn't sure if she was truly hearing the approaching engines roaring through the storm or if it was just her mind playing tricks on her. If she really was hearing the ships, however, there was no way that they had time to make it to shelter.
But no: the sound was getting louder, and Rey felt fear mingling with the remnants of exhilaration from the rush of the Force that she'd experienced earlier. Her foot slipped and she paused to steady herself. Focus. Distractions right now could get her killed before the starfighters even arrived.
The stairs gave a sharp twist, turning away from the raging sea and into a cleft in the cliff face that was revealed to be a landing. Storm-tossed seaweed festooned the narrow walkway, fluttering in the corners as the three of them carefully but swiftly traversed the slick surface.
Rey felt a flex in the Force a fraction before the rock exploded above their heads. She startled and almost lost her balance, but she managed to regain it in an instinctive grab at the Force. She saw, through the haze of rain, the first TIE fighter adjusting its position in order to level its guns directly at her. Out of the corner of her eye, Rey saw that Finn and Luke had made it into a small alcove across the bare expanse of storm-swept walkway and had both turned, realizing she wasn't with them. Their faces blurred in her vision. Fear warred with rage in her mind, momentarily freezing her thoughts as she stared into the darkness of a laser cannon's muzzle. She felt herself, in that slim moment, reach out in the Force for anyone, anything, to stop what was about to happen.
Ben answered.
She dropped her defenses, allowing him to sweep through her mind, and as the ship started firing again, Rey threw up her hand. She felt Ben's guidance as she reached for the particular inflection of the Force that she'd never known existed, and as the ship opened fire, she felt a swooping thrill of certainty that this, here and now, was how she would die.
She blinked, her eyes belatedly focusing on the hissing bolts of plasma trembling in the air before her, frozen there. Then she felt the overwhelming strain upon her strength and knew that she wouldn't be able to hold them there for much longer. Rey scrambled towards Luke and Finn, simultaneously releasing the plasma. The cliffside behind where she'd just been standing exploded, shards of stone searing into her skin.
She gathered herself up, and Finn snatched her arm, yanking her the rest of the way out from the exposed walkway into the alcove. Luke had already opened the stout door, and as Rey and Finn stumbled inside, she heard the sound of more shots striking the cliff, keening closer. Luke slammed the door shut, plunging them into darkness. Rey immediately fumbled for her bag, her cold-numbed fingers finding the flashlight she kept in there and clicking it on. Its pale beam glinted off the moisture on the walls of the tunnel, the illumination fading to darkness ahead.
"We need to hurry. That door won't hold them for long," Luke said grimly, holding out his hand for the light. Rey hesitated, then gave it over to him. As he started off into the darkness, Finn touched Rey's shoulder.
"You okay?" he asked in a low tone. Rey gave him a short nod and the best attempt at a smile that she could manage. She could still feel Kylo Ren in the back of her mind, tense and watchful, but for the moment, he had retreated a step. She could still feel that dread, the knowledge of her own imminent death. It felt like a presence that shadowed her, there in the darkness behind.
She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to focus on that. From within her own mind, she felt Kylo Ren's agreement. Her hand caressed the lightsaber hilt at her side, but she didn't draw it. Not yet. Water dripped from the ceiling bristling with tiny stalactites.
"Where does this go?" Rey asked.
"There's a cavern deeper in," Luke said, sounding slightly out of breath. "And a tunnel that leads through the island to the other side."
"But we'll still be trapped on a relatively small rock in the middle of the ocean," Rey pointed out. She almost wished for the vast desert, where if one knew what they were doing, one could easily hide from pursuing enemies.
"There's no good place to hide in here. We're only buying time and a little cover right now. You two will have a different lesson to learn today than I originally planned," Luke replied. "There is a technique of using the Force that you will have to master quickly. Luckily, I can do most of the work and guide you. But I need you both to help."
Rey felt doubt and fear edging into her mind.
I think I know what he's planning. You'll be able to do it, Rey, Kylo Ren murmured in her mind. Rey swallowed hard. Yes; she would be able to do it, whatever "it" was. Their lives depended on it.
They reached a large cavern that swallowed the edges of the light. Luke, however, was not stopping.
"Not much farther. One flight of stairs, and—"
He broke off, and all three of them halted and turned to look behind. Mechanized voices were ringing out from the direction they had just come from. Rey turned to find a dark expression on Luke's face, his features settled into hard, unfamiliar lines.
"Here," Rey said in a low voice, reaching down and unclipping the lightsaber from her belt, offering it to him. Luke turned his gaze to stare down at the gleaming hilt.
"No," he said, after a pause. "You hold onto that for now." Rey couldn't help but feel relief as she replaced the familiar weight onto her belt. His gaze lingered on it a moment longer, then he turned away.
"We have to keep going," he said, and they started climbing the long stairs, all of the breathing heavily by the time they arrived at the top. Finn and Luke wrestled with the stout wooden door while Rey kept tense watch on the darkness behind them, one hand on the saber hilt as she listened to the definite sounds of pursuit.
They got the door open, and a rush of wind and rain immediately blasted them.
"Come on," Luke urged, and Rey and Finn shoved the heavy door shut again behind them.
"What is your plan?" Rey asked, finding that she had to shout due to the volume of the storm. Stinging rain pelted her skin and plastered loose strands of hair against her face. But Luke was already heading into the blasting wind, his robes whipping around him. She and Finn had no choice but to follow.
Luke halted when he got to a small outcropping of rock.
"This will have to do," he said. "Get behind them."
Rey, knowing at this point that further questions would be just wasted breath and wasted time, did as he ordered, crouching uncomfortably on the soaking ground as the chill crept through her. Luke crouched beside them.
"This is it?" Finn demanded. Rey had to agree with the incredulity in his tone.
"There's nowhere else to go," Luke said, his voice harsh. "This will have to do."
Rey met his steady gaze. And in that moment, in spite of every harsh word he'd ever said to her, in spite of the way he seemed to favor Finn over her, in spite of that stormy look she sometimes saw him wearing while watching her practice…despite all of that, Rey realized in that moment that she did indeed trust him with her life.
"Tell us what to do," she said. He shot her a look of gratitude before gesturing at the cluster of rocks around them.
"We're going to create camouflage using the Force," he said. "It's…weaving an illusion. All three of us need to weave the Force into the illusion that there is nothing more than a rock outcropping here."
"And how do we do that?" Rey asked. Luke closed his eyes.
"Sense what I am doing, and try to copy it," he said, evening out his breathing. Rey felt the Force brush her senses, and she tried her best to drop into a focused mental state. She felt Kylo Ren's presence, quiet and watchful in the back of her mind, and she drew from his steadiness to supplement her own. She felt her heartbeat slow, and even with the scream of the TIE fighters growing amidst the raging storm, she felt her connection with the Force begin to strengthen. She felt what Luke was doing; taking strands of the Force and weaving them into a projection of weathered stone and sparse tufts of grass. She watched for a moment, then began to do the same, filling in gaps, strengthening his tapestry. A few moments later, she felt Finn start doing the same, at first clumsily, but with growing deftness. She felt the illusion strengthen above them, and even when the TIE fighters swept low overhead, the nightmarish scream of their engines sounding as though they must be about to crash straight into them, the illusion didn't falter. She felt Kylo Ren silently bolstering her, adding to their overall strength.
She jumped as the door exploded open and the white-armored First Order Stormtroopers poured out of the tunnel, their lights flashing through the sheeting rain. Rey couldn't bear to close her eyes, so she watched and did her best to hold her concentration as she watched the Troopers sweep the area, fanning out. They were being fairly thorough, checking behind anything large enough for a person to hide behind.
Fear chilled Rey worse than the rain and the cold, howling wind. She began to shiver.
Beside her, Finn stirred, and she felt his hand take hers, gripping it reassuringly. Warmth seeped through the contact, and Rey felt a surge of gratitude for him. She'd never been touchy-feely, but right now, in the chill rain with enemies close, she was glad of the contact.
A Trooper was heading in their direction now. Rey felt her muscles tense even more than they had from the cold.
Focus, Kylo Ren murmured in her mind. Rey set her attention back to weaving the Force into cover, even as she watched the Troopers come closer and closer. One paused in front of their outcropping of rock, and Rey felt as though he were staring through the black visor straight at her. Finn's grip on her hand tightened. The Trooper paused, then took two steps forward. Rey looked up at him, feeling Finn's grip tighten to a painful intensity.
Then the Trooper turned away, and Rey felt relief run through her, leaving her feeling weak.
"Hey! Can I get some backup over here? The pilots said they saw them in this direction," he called out, his voice almost drowned out by the rain. Another Trooper headed their way, and Rey could only watch as the they began poking at the rock formation with the rifles, methodically working their way towards the three of them. Finn gently disentangled his hand from Rey's.
The Trooper nearest to them reached out with the muzzle of his rifle. It sank right through the illusion.
Several things happened at once.
Finn grabbed the end of the rifle, wrenching it sharply towards himself while simultaneously forcing the muzzle up and away from all three of them. The illusion tore apart as Finn ripped the rifle away from the Trooper, settling it against his own shoulder in a smooth, automatic movement and firing it twice. The Trooper fell backwards, twin holes smoking in the center of his chest armor. Finn swung the rifle towards the second Trooper, but he dove for cover behind the rocks before Finn could fire. Rey heard him shouting for reinforcements as she reached for the lightsaber, its weight familiar.
Rey thumbed the activation switch on the lightsaber, strangely calm.
I'll help you, Kylo Ren whispered in the back of her mind. Rey sucked in a long breath, then hit the switch. The saber sprang to life in her hand, energy thrumming though the hilt, the blue glow illuminating the storm-dark surroundings.
"Over here!" she heard another Stormtrooper call out. At that moment, Rey couldn't remember any of her trainings, with Finn or with Kylo Ren, nor the diagrams Luke had her study. But she felt herself automatically send out the tiny tendril of Force to the nearest Trooper, and as the Trooper raised her rifle to point it at them, Rey felt a part of herself that she hadn't been aware of, a part that had been holding tightly to the uncertainty of her own new skills, abruptly let go.
The rifle fired, but Rey had already moved to block the shot with the saber. The blade absorbed it, crackling. Rey pivoted sharply and blocked the next round. She felt the Force flex from Luke's direction, and the nearest Stormtrooper went flying through the air, colliding with a crunch of sub-par armor against the rock-studded ground. He didn't get back up. Finn had taken cover behind a jutting stone and was carefully returning fire. By the corresponding screams, Rey knew he was hitting his marks.
She gave the lightsaber a tight whirl, feeling the weight of it, the buzz of energy running through her. The Force joined with her will, and she absorbed the next few plasma blasts with ease.
A mechanized scream cut through the caucophony of the storm, and the TIE fighters roared in, strafing the ground with plasma blasts. Rey dodged behind the nearest rock, extinguishing the lightsaber as she did. Stone shards cut into her, and all three of them had to protect their faces as the exposed bedrock exploded around them.
Rey both heard the grunt of pain and felt the flinch in the Force. She lowered her arm, raised protectively over her eyes, to find Finn leaning against the rock he'd been using as cover, blood already blossoming from the slice in his sleeve.
"Finn!" Rey gasped.
"No, no, I'm okay," Finn said, sounding slightly breathless as he picked the fabric away from the wound and experimentally flexed his arm. "It's not bad."
Rey had no time to even feel relief at this news when another barrage of plasma blasts sent them to the ground. She could feel Luke struggling to hold up the camouflage. It was weak, but it, along with the mist, was concealing them enough that the shots missed.
You'll get through this. Kylo Ren's voice in her head felt forced, fear leaking through the thought even as she felt him struggling to push it back. Rey pushed herself slightly off the ground, lightsaber pressed between her hand and the soaked, coarse grass, wondering what they could possibly do to survive this. She wasn't strong enough to block the plasma guns, and even now, the Troopers were working their way around, using cover among the rock outcroppings so that Finn was having a harder time sniping them. The TIE fighters were circling back around to strafe them again, and Rey had a terrible, terrible feeling that this time, they wouldn't be walking away with just a couple of cuts. She lifted her head enough to meet Luke's eyes, and his resignation was a darkness within them, echoing with the feel of it carried on the Force. She felt with crystal clarity that he was preparing to die.
Rey had felt this before. She'd been cornered, faced with the bleak reality of her own imminent death, knowing that she would fight with every bit of strength she had to keep that from happening, no matter how dismal her chances. She'd always clawed her way back out before. Even now, though she had no idea what she was going to do, she knew with absolute certainty that there was no other option but to survive.
Rey climbed into a low crouch. Finn turned away from his careful shooting.
"What are you doing?" he hissed.
"It's okay, Finn." Her voice was oddly calm. She almost wasn't sure that it was hers. She'd blocked the plasma before, on the catwalk. She would again. She didn't have a choice. And after that…
The TIE fighters swooped in, three in formation, the plasma blasts filling the air with shattered stone and other debris as they ran straight at their protected little spot. This time, they didn't need to aim. They were obliterating all of it.
There is a way to stop them, Kylo Ren's voice whispered. I can help you.
Rey stared at the rapidly-approaching lines of fire. She wasn't going to die. Not today.
Show me.
Using her own grasp of the Force, Kylo Ren turned it in a new direction…towards Finn and Luke. And suddenly, Rey felt her own power growing.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rey saw Finn sag against the boulder he'd been using for cover. But Luke's gaze had snapped directly to her. He was saying something, but his words were washed away in the sounds of the oncoming TIE fighters and the raging storm. It didn't matter, really, what Luke was saying as he fell, weakly bracing himself against the ground. Whatever she was doing to them, they were both still alive. For now.
We must survive, Rey thought.
You will.
She felt as though she were balanced on top of a fractious fathier, the Force alternately turning to her will and resisting it. Rey felt her hold over the wild Force slip, and she knew that she needed to use it now or utterly lose control.
The TIE fighters were on them. What was she going to do? How could they possibly escape from this situation, no matter how much of the Force she could control?
Wait.
The thought wasn't hers, and, from the confusion she felt from Kylo Ren, it wasn't his either. It was more of a strong belief than an organized thought, too; a whisper without words; a feeling that she had to wait, just a bit longer.
She suddenly knew what she must do with the Force.
With the last of her strength, Rey gathered the massive, partially resistant power to herself. She hesitated briefly, recalling the way Kylo Ren had shown her before. She flexed the Force, terror of her own failure surging through her, screaming that she had been too late.
Everything stopped.
The wind, which had been howling before, abruptly went silent. Plasma bolts crackled, hanging in midair, one a scant hand's breadth from Luke's torso. Small sprays of stone and dirt from the previous plasma blasts hung in small clusters over the holes in the earth. Even the rain stood still, obeying Rey's control through the Force.
Luke staggered sideways, out from under the bolt that was about to end his life. Finn, his one arm limp at his side, grabbed Luke with his good hand and together they staggered to Rey's side.
"What have you done?" Luke whispered hoarsely.
Rey struggled to return her full attention to the massive reservoir and correspondingly massive draw upon the Force under her control. The fear and anger she felt from them was undermining her efforts, and struggled to block them out. Well, she was waiting, though she couldn't tell how long she'd be able to keep doing so. Already a few drops of rain had loosened from the sky to hit her face.
Wait.
She could feel the pull of the command, the feeling that it was right to do so. But also, she was starting to feel the whisper of a breeze, saw one of the TIE fighters slip forward a fraction of an inch. Her time was running short.
"You need to go. Hide." Rey couldn't think of a place they could go to, though. Her mind felt sluggish, her attention on the Force she was wielding eclipsing all attempts at logical thought. Where would possibly be safe for them?
The TIE fighter slipped forward again: this time a hand's breadth. She had to make a decision. Now.
Wait.
But Rey was done waiting. She knew she had run out of time.
She couldn't hide Luke and Finn. But the minds of the TIE fighter pilots and the Troopers surrounding them…those were wide open to her seething mass of Force.
Rey hesitated only a moment, then plunged into the first one.
She had no idea what to do, apart from cause as much destruction as she could in as short amount of time as was possible. She felt the man's mind put up a panicked fight, but he was flailing around in the dark while she sank a barbed edge of Force directly into his consciousness. Through the Force, Rey felt his awareness blink out. She turned to the next one, feeling horror at war with grim determination swirling within her.
"Rey!" Luke shouted, but Rey ignored him. She had to do this. There was no other way. In the back of her mind, she sensed Kylo Ren's assent. This was how they would survive.
One by one, she extinguished the minds of the Troopers around them. It felt like forever, but it couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Her control was slipping faster now, since her attention was diverted, and with the mingled emotions of horror and fierce triumph, she shut down the last flickering light of awareness and returned to herself. A weary glance told her that Luke and Finn were out of harm's way, and with a sense of incredible relief, she pushed the TIE fighters off to one side as she simultaneously released her hold upon the Force.
Around them, Troopers crashed to the ground simultaneously and lay still. The ships hurtled into the ocean below the cliff, steam and smoke billowing up.
As the smoke rolled over them, sent by the wind, Rey stood still, rain plastering her clothes against her, the wind and shock sending chills through her entire body so that her teeth chattered. She heard rather than felt the lightsaber hilt slip from her hand and clatter to the rocky ground beside her feet. She fell to her knees, knowing in a detached way that it should hurt but did not. Not yet.
Finn staggered over to her, and for a moment, the only thing that broke through Rey's numbness was the grip of his warm hand on her upper arm.
"Rey?" he asked, looking worriedly into her face. "Rey, say something."
"Wait," she whispered. "We have to wait."
"For what?" he asked, but the sound of an approaching engine cut through his words. Rey turned her eyes skyward, through the heavy veil of wind-whipped rain and intermittent smoke, to the shape of the spacecraft materializing through it. Finn half-raised his rifle, but then immediately lowered it. In another half-second, Rey understood why.
The grey paint of the Millenium Falcon seemed to shine even through the tempest, one side dipping in acknowledgement before it roared overhead. Rey felt sluggish, her entire body drained of energy. Finn was saying something to her, but she lacked the willpower to focus her mind on his words. Instead she allowed her gaze to follow the skillful arc of the ship as the pilot brought her around to land with impeccable precision on the blasted ground before them. Rey could only kneel there and shiver, watching the ramp lower and a figure appear, backlit from the light within.
Poe Dameron jogged out into the rain, surveying the fallen Troopers with interest before turning his attention upon the three survivors.
"You okay?" he shouted through the wind as he approached. Luke had climbed to his feet and had been inspecting one of the First Order soldiers closely. When he looked at Rey, she felt a fresh chill run through her that had little to do with the temperature or the rain.
"Yes," Luke replied as Poe approached. "We're alive, after all."
"There's something wrong with Rey," Finn added worriedly. Rey pulled herself far enough out of her reverie to shake her head.
"I'm fine," she said, but her voice came out as a whisper that was buried far beneath the howl of the wind. Poe headed over, his gaze raking over Finn before turning to Rey. He paused as he looked down into her face, then reached for her other arm and hauled her to her feet.
"We have to go," he said. "There's more on the radar heading this way."
"Come on, Rey," Finn said encouragingly. "You either walk, or I'm carrying you."
That reached her. She forced her legs to obey her will as she made her way towards the Falcon, Poe on one side, Finn on the other, and Luke bringing up the rear. They boarded the ship, Poe immediately leaving to head to the bridge as Finn, Rey, and Luke made their way much more slowly to the small medical bay in the main lounge.
Rey felt as though it were the longest walk of her life. Her entire body was screaming for sleep, but she forced herself onward nevertheless. By the time they reached the final corridor, she felt more than half asleep even while walking, her eyes closing against her will but the icy cold keeping her awake, and Finn's unwavering grip on her arm steering her towards the door.
Luke held the door as Finn and Rey entered, Rey collapsing into the nearest chair.
You're safe, Kylo Ren murmured in her mind. Rest now.
Rey wanted to protest that Finn's arm needed seeing to, and that she had many questions to ask, but the words failed to form in her mind. Sleep took her in a sudden wave, and she had no willpower left to fight it.