Trust

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

Chapter Three- Luke and Kylo

Rey ducked her head at Kylo's declaration. She felt a hot blush flowering on her cheeks, the delicate pink a compliment to her eyes, highlighting the shy smile that took over her face. "Thank you?" She framed her response like a question, almost as if expecting him to take back his words.

Kylo was only a pace away, his dark eyes still locked on her face. "What are you thanking me for?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know." Rey murmured. She fought to keep her emotions contained, fearing that if she released them even for a moment, they would overwhelm her and sweep her away.

They stared at each other, their eyes locking again, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Skywalker a few seconds later.

Kylo stiffened, his eyes widening slightly and his complexion paling significantly. Rey looked up at him in concern. He looked like he was staring at a ghost. She felt her throat tighten in sympathy, for as far as he concerned, that was exactly how Luke must appear to him.

"You stayed." Luke was the first to speak. His shaggy, greying hair was lifted off his hot neck by the gentle breeze as he eyed his nephew sternly.

Kylo's gaze became riveted on his uncle and former master. "And that confounds you, doesn't it?" He retorted.

"I am certainly baffled." Luke conceded carefully. "I am trying to figure out your intentions by coming here."

"You think I am only here because I have some ulterior motive?" Kylo sneered.

Luke's bushy brows furrowed as he glared at his nephew. Initially he had registered nothing beyond Kylo's presence when he'd found him with Rey. Now he blazed in Luke's sense of the Force, almost radiant with power. It was the kind of power Luke had foreseen for him – but maybe not in the way he had imagined. He had been wrong about so many things in the past. But, still, he could not let his guard down around the boy who had once been one of his most promising students. What if his sister's son was trying to lull him into a false sense of security? It was clear that young Rey trusted his nephew, even after what she had witnessed him do to Han. It was a puzzling conundrum Luke wasn't sure how to fix.

"I admit I am not sure how to proceed here." He admitted warily. "Or even what I'm supposed to call you."

"Ben!" Rey cut in scathingly, clearly annoyed by the old Jedi master's attitude. "His name is Ben."

Luke noticed Kylo flinch when Rey made her stout declaration. He could sense the turmoil in the young man standing opposite him – his anger, his pain and fear. They filled him. Threatening to devour him. "Ben it is then." He said grudgingly. "I brought food. I suggest we eat. Then talk."

It was a strange meal, spartan and frugal. The food tasted like ashes in Rey's mouth as she ate, sitting so quietly between the two men, who did nothing but glare at each other at every opportunity. Kylo had removed his gloves to eat, she found herself becoming fascinated by his hands, so large, strong and dexterous, but with an added grace and gentleness about them as he handled the simple morsels of food Luke had provided.

Chewie had failed to join them; he was taking out his anguish and distress on the Falcon's damaged laser cannons. Rey was glad that the grieving Wookie had chosen to take a step back from the tense situation. She wished she could do the same, but someone needed to stay and act as mediator between the two men. She attempted to make small talk, but soon gave up when she found her words were falling on deaf ears.

Much to Rey's relief, the meal eventually came to an end. She busied herself tidying away the plates and meagre cutlery that Luke had brought with him. She had chosen to eat with her fingers, stuffing the food in her mouth quickly, and licking them afterwards in appreciation. She noticed Kylo watching her with something akin to amusement at one point, and found her face heating up with shame as if she had committed some unforgivable faux pas. She saw his eyes soften in understanding as if he had read the mortified thoughts flowing through her mind. He put aside his own knife and fork and finished the last of his food using his fingers in solidarity with her. Rey had found a grateful smile tugging at her lips, but it soon disappeared when she caught Luke looking at her oddly.

"Now we talk." Luke said abruptly after everything had been tidied away. "I'll start…. why did you come here?"

"I don't know." Kylo answered honestly. "It was a spur of the moment decision. I never thought beyond anything except getting here."

Luke studied his nephew critically, still not convinced that he was telling the truth. Ben Solo had sought to abandon everything he had been, even casting aside his name. But Luke sensed that that Kylo Ren was a shell around the same broken boy he had tried so hard to reach once upon a time. "You'll have to forgive me if I find that hard to believe."

Kylo had been studying Luke as well. Now he spoke, his voice thick with venom. "I gave up caring what you think the night you tried to murder me in my sleep." He accused.

"The same night you destroyed the temple and slaughtered your fellow padawans!" Luke countered angrily, his hand went slowly and deliberately to the lightsaber attached to his belt, a shaft of green emerging from the hilt.

In the same instant Kylo snatched up his own lightsaber. The crimson blade crackled and growled as he took up a duelling position opposite his uncle. This fight had been a long time coming. The two men regarded each other bitterly, their lightsabers humming between them.

Alarmed at what was playing out in front of her eyes, Rey jumped to her feet and quickly ignited her own blade. Acting purely on instinct, she slammed her blue blade down hard on Luke's saber, setting off a shower of sparks as she pushed it to one side. Before he could react, she did the same with Kylo's, her eyes locking in frustration with his.

"This is not the way. This is not why you came here." Rey pleaded with him. She took a step back and shut down her saber, her concerned gaze encompassing both men this time. "Shut down your weapons and give them to me." She ordered.

"You can't be serious?" Luke questioned irritably.

"She is deadly serious." Kylo's expression was a mixture of admiration and resentment as he gave up his weapon and handed it to her. He touched the scar Rey had inflicted on him with his free hand. "And I would do as she says, unless you want to sport a matching scar." He quipped dryly to his uncle.

Luke pursed his lips thoughtfully as he did the same. He shut down his saber and passed it to Rey, wondering again at the hold the young scavenger girl seemed to have over his nephew. Kylo had acquiesced without a fight. Luke found the whole situation strange and intriguing. He took a deep breath and modified his expression into one of apology. "I shouldn't have drawn my weapon, Ben. I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you are." Kylo glared at his former master, still uncomfortable responding to his birth name. "And for the record, everything you just said was wrong."

"What do you mean?" Luke's questioning gaze flicked to Rey, only to find she looked as equally confused as he felt.

"The temple." Kylo's voice was so low that the old Jedi had to strain his ears to hear him. "I don't know what happened."

Luke's complexion turned grey, his blue eyes again wandering to Rey. Hers were fixated on his nephew; her anxiety clear. Kylo was staring into the distance, his gaze unfocused and his expression bleak. As he continued to speak, his words ran together, until they were barely comprehensible. It was clear that whatever he was reliving in his mind was torturing him.

"I didn't want to destroy the temple. I was angry and confused. I didn't understand how you could do that to me. When I collapsed the hut on you, I thought you were dead. I yelled into thin air – "Why? Why? Why did you do it?"

"Ben." Rey whispered his name in anguish, wanting to reach out to comfort him, but resisting the urge to do so.

Kylo barely heard her. "As I walked toward the temple, I was raging at the injustice of it all. I'd done nothing wrong; I did everything that was asked of me." His chin quivered and his eyes closed briefly in anguish at the memory. "When I got to the temple I saw a strange dark red storm brewing, I didn't know what it was. And then the temple exploded, sending me flying backwards. I was shocked and sickened by what had happened. I ran towards the burning ruins, I was yelling "No. No! I never… I didn't want this." Then a voice answered me, Snoke I think, "And you did not choose it, Ben. The Jedi did. Skywalker."

Rey sensed the struggle within Kylo, the way his inner turmoil was churning through the Force, the cascading stress triggers, the change in his eye contact, his posture and tone. And in that instant, she realised he needed her to be his stress buffer, to remain calm and well balanced so he could co-regulate his emotions in order for them not to pull him asunder. She started to hear his speech in a different way, not for the words, but for what they told her about his current emotions and perspective. Rey took a step forward and reached for his hand, the skin-to-skin contact pulling him back into the present.

"I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean for any of it to happen." Kylo explained fretfully. "In my anger…...? I must have…. I don't know." He stared at her bleakly, his eyes plagued with repressed guilt.

"Your anger couldn't have caused that storm, Ben." Rey tried to reassure him. The scenario he had painted about what had happened that night was horrific, but she believed he had no part in the destruction of the temple and the deaths of the other students. She was sure someone else was responsible, he was just a pawn.

Luke was in a state of complete shock. His brain stuttered for a moment, every part of him going on pause while he waited for his thoughts to catch up. A wash of cold swept over him as it dawned on him how wrong he had been, about everything. If Ben had been manipulated into thinking he had inadvertently destroyed the temple, then so had he with the Force vision he had been confronted with that night when he had probed his mind. A third party had been at work, causing division and destruction, and instead of protecting his nephew, he had thrown him to the wolves. He saw his reaction for what it was now, a sign that he had been proved right about Ben's darkness all along. He had been so quick to believe the worst, he had judged Ben without taking the time to consider there was some greater power at work.

"I failed you in the worst way, Ben." Luke admitted sorrowfully. "I am so very sorry."

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.