Trust

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A/N-thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter.

Chapter Two-The Shared Dream

The storm's passing left the skies of Ach-to radiating a calm blue. Rey wondered how the blue was so bright and so soft all at once. The serenity of the clouds that sailed by, gently passing on toward anyplace the wind wished them to go had a peaceful effect as she kept watch over Kylo's comatose form. He had slumped into unconsciousness after Chewie's unexpected assault. The very fact that he hadn't defended himself against the heartbroken Wookie told Rey all she needed to know about Kylo's emotional state.

Rey didn't ever think she would be able to erase from her mind the sight of Chewie cradling his surrogate nephew in his arms, waves of grief and guilt making him totally inconsolable to all attempts to comfort him. She had never seen a Wookie cry, and to see Chewie completely let go as he grieved for Han and in turn his son, broke her heart. Even now tears were forming in her eyes as she reflected on it.

It had taken all of Luke's persuasive powers to encourage Chewie to leave Kylo in Rey's care. He had growled, protesting wildly as they tried to wrest the young man from his furry arms. But eventually, his stubbornness had been overcome by exhaustion and he had finally seen reason. Luke led him away in the direction of the Millennium Falcon, leaving Rey to deal with Kylo alone.

It had been a long vigil outside in the dark and the rain as she waited for dawn to paint the sky once again. Rey had tended Kylo's wounds with the limited medical supplies available to her – mainly bacta patches pilfered from a medpac she had found on the Falcon.

Rey glanced down at his sleeping face. The dark fringe of his eyelashes settled softly on his cheeks, his thick black hair was in disarray, one lock falling across his forehead which she had an urge to brush back. The scar that she herself had inflicted on him had faded quite a bit, but was still noticeable against his pale skin, which was now riddled with the eponymous bacta patches. Occasionally she noticed his eyes moving rapidly under the closed lids, his fingers and hands twitching slightly in unison, making her wonder what was playing out in his mind.

In the clean light of the new day Rey eventually began to tire. She tried to stay awake, but it was as if every lash weighed more than it should and gravity had been turned up tenfold. In moments she acquiesced and slumped onto the ground beside Kylo.

Rey's head felt foggy, like she had drunk copious amounts of alcohol sending her into oblivion, even though she hadn't drunk a drop. She began to dream. There are dreams that feel as nightmares, yet this one was vivid, and seemed more like a memory, but not one of her own….

Rey felt like she was outside of herself as she observed Luke Skywalker looking down at her. The Jedi's master's eyes were closed. The Force was aboil with danger, the air was thick with it. Rey saw Luke's face become clouded with worry and fear. He extended his hand, reaching out with the Force -reaching into her sleeping mind, invading her most private thoughts.

Her breath caught in her throat as she turned her attention to her sleeping self. Rey noticed that her face remained untroubled, seemingly totally unaware of everything around her. Luke's complexion turned greyer with every passing minute, until he let out an agonised gasp and drew his hand back, as if burned.

Then, with dawning horror, Rey watched as Luke removed his lightsaber from his belt and ignited the blade, his blue eyes grave, preparing to strike her down. But then she saw the resolve in his eyes die as he looked down at her sleeping form again. He began to lower his blade but it was too late, for Rey saw that her eyes were open – frightened but aware.

She knew what Luke thought.

She knew what Luke saw.

She knew what Luke had intended to do.

"Rey? Wake up. I've brought food."

Luke Skywalker's hesitant voice acted like a trigger switch. Desperate, Rey jolted awake for real, leaping to her feet, calling her lightsaber to her hand, igniting it and directing the shimmering blue blade at a shocked Luke in self-defence. The jedi master stood a few feet away, a tray of refreshments held in his hands, his bewildered gaze directed not at her, but to her companion.

Rey's confused gaze travelled to the tall man standing next to her, only now realising she hadn't acted alone. Kylo was wide awake and standing tall beside her, his own shimmering red cross-guarded saber directed right at Luke's heart. Horrified at what she had done, Rey quickly shut down her saber, shaking her head in an effort to clear the last remnants of the dream or memory? Not her memory…. but Kylo's?

"Stop!" She called out, touching Kylo's arm. "It was a dream…."

Kylo turned his head toward her, his dark brown eyes looking dazed and confused. He had thought himself awake but he couldn't be. This was a nightmare of sorts, or rather, a horrific re-enactment of the fateful night his uncle had betrayed him. The dream had been so lucid, he had been totally unaware that he had been projecting it onto her…

"Rey?" He muttered; his voice still thick with sleep.

"It's okay." Rey answered, her voice equal parts gentle and insistent. "It was just a bad dream. Nothing more."

Kylo thought she sounded like she was trying to tame a wild animal. Perhaps that wasn't a bad analogy. He must appear like one to her. A monster. She had called him that once. No…he shook his head, trying to clear it of his confused thoughts. She didn't think of him that way. Not anymore.

Every movement was costing more energy than it should, like someone just turned gravity way up. Then he caught sight of his treacherous uncle peering at him curiously from underneath his bushy brows, it sent Kylo's heart pounding fit to burst and his fist clenched, his other hand wrapped around his saber's hilt tightened.

"This was a mistake." He muttered hoarsely. "I shouldn't have come here."

Alarmed, Rey watched him turn and leave. "Where are you going?" She yelled after him. "Come back!"

"I told you this wouldn't go the way you think." Luke said quietly from behind her.

"You said he wouldn't come alone and he did!" Rey retorted in frustration. "Aren't you going to do anything? Say anything?" She demanded.

The stubborn set of Skywalker's mouth was her only answer.

Rey scowled at him as she took off after Kylo at a fast sprint in order to stop him leaving. "Wait!" She called out. "Stop!"

Kylo ignored her and carried on walking at a fast pace.

"Kylo?" Rey tried again.

Nothing. He didn't even turn around. He began to run.

Rey huffed angrily. "Hey! Stop! Wait! Kylo!"

Still nothing.

Running was living, it was feeling the power to leave anytime he needed to, to escape the conflict that was tearing his soul apart. Kylo heard Rey running after him, so he ran faster. He wanted to escape his emotional turmoil and she was adding to it. He didn't know what he had been thinking, coming to this cursed place.

"Dammit, Ben, slow down!" Rey yelled.

The sound of his true name spilling from her lips made Kylo stagger. He slowed down and was forced to stand for a moment, his legs giving way to gravity, shaky, weak.

Relieved that he had stopped running, Rey hastily closed the gap between them. "Ben." She said, when she reached him. "You came here for – "

"Don't call me that!" Kylo snapped, his face contorted with pain.

"It's the name of your true self." Rey continued softly. "The name your mother gave you."

"You know nothing about my mother!" Kylo thundered, turning his festering resentment onto her. "Don't mention her again!"

Despite the force of his anger, Rey caught the bleakness in his eyes when she brought up Leia Organa. "I know more than you think." She persisted. "I know that she misses you. I know that she wants you to come home."

"You're lying." Kylo flung at her. "It's too late."

"I'm not lying to you, Ben." Rey took a small step closer, keeping her eyes fixed on his face. He was wavering, she could sense it. He wanted to believe, even as he tried to convince himself of the opposite. "You can look inside my head. I won't fight you this time. You're her son, whatever you've done, she still loves you…."

Rey's presence had been like a steady pulse through the Force from the moment he'd arrived on the Ahch-to. She was the one who had drawn him there, like a moth to a flame after the intimate moment they had shared during their last Force bond. Kylo remembered the way she had driven him to his knees at Starkiller Base and disarmed him. He would bear the mark of that duel forever, he lived now only because she had chosen not to strike him down. He had been in awe of her then and he was in awe of her now. She had placed her trust in him by revealing her location to him on a whim. He had to trust that she was telling the truth now.

Kylo's turmoil all but filled the Force around Rey, rolling and churning it. Being confronted by Skywalker again during another particularly vulnerable moment had clearly shaken him. It made her think of their shared dream, where she felt everything he had felt. It must have been like déjà vu all over again. No wonder his first instinct had been to defend himself upon awakening again to find Skywalker standing over him again.

"Look at me, Ben." Rey pleaded.

Kylo turned at the sound of the name he had been born with, the one he'd abandoned. He looked lost.

Rey watched the myriad of emotions crossing his face, echoed by jitters and spikes in the Force. Anger. Confusion. Pain. Loneliness. Longing. Sorrow.

"I don't pretend to have the answers, Ben. I am as confused as you are. I came to Ahch-to seeking a legend, but found only a bitter old man instead. I am lost. Confused. Lonely. I want to find my place in the world. I want to know how I fit into this story. I'm just a scavenger girl. A nobody. Nothing – "

"You're not nothing." Kylo cut in, his voice softening as well as his eyes. "Not to me."

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.