Title: Encounter at the Beach

Date Added: Feb 21, 2019

Rating: K+ (everyone)

Description: Kylo visits a planet searching for a gifted force user and encounters Rey on the way.

Encounter at the Beach

A warm, wet wind whipped Kylo's hair about. Kylo leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath of the salty sea breeze. He had not been to a proper beach-side in some time. Though he came seeking a child rumored to be talented in the force, he wanted to admire the ocean and listen to the crashing of the waves before he went back to the Supremacy with its recycled air, loud construction from repairs, and endless beeps from a thousand systems.

The child could wait. After all, when he reached into the force to determine how strong the child's presence was in the force, he found someone else.

Rey.

Rey was also on the planet. Kylo smirked and made his way towards her. She must have come for the child too, and, like Kylo, had detoured to the beach first.

When he reached the beach, Rey stood barefoot and ankle deep in the receding waves facing the rising sun over the ocean. She gave no indication that she was aware of his presence, and given how strong the wind was, she likely wouldn't hear him even if he shouted for her now. She wore white garb and had a new lightsaber attached to her belt.

Kylo knelt down into a crouch and considered what to do with Rey. They were enemies. He had not seen her since the force connected them on Crait, and yet… the rage that had filled him during that battle was wholly absent now. After all, though she had not stayed as he asked, she also had not killed him when she had the chance.

Furthermore…

He still wanted her.

Kylo gently tugged at his bottom lip and studied her with thoughtful eyes. She had her arms slightly out to each side, as if she were embracing the strong breeze coming off the ocean, and he watched as a ball of water formed from the surface and lifted into the air before her. She dropped it and got splashed, and he watched her laugh in delight. He felt his lips move, and he realized he had smiled just watching her.

That decided it.

Kylo stood up and quickly walked towards Rey, trusting her fascination with the water to keep her from turning around. He stopped ten feet away, watching as she brought several new globes of water into the nearby air.

Kylo grinned and flicked the force with his fingers.

The balls exploded into Rey, soaking her.

She shrieked in shock and whipped around, finally realizing she wasn't alone. Her eyes widened, then narrowed. She reached for her lightsaber, but Kylo had expected as much. He chose that moment to yank the sand out from under her feet into a cloud around her.

Rey yelped again as she fell flat on her back. Kylo stepped closer with the intention to help pull her up, but the steady hum and sudden light of her lightsaber convinced him otherwise. He pulled his hand back and freed his own lightsaber from its holster, but he did not ignite it yet.

"What do you want?" Rey hissed as she climbed to her feet.

Kylo frowned in disappointment. She was angry, not that he blamed her. Still, he wanted to take her down a notch before he admitted he made a mistake on Crait. The Rey before him was too much like the self-righteous girl who had called him a monster. He wanted to give his apology to that lost soul who had reached out for his hand and surrendered herself to him in the hope he could be someone better.

"You need a teacher, Rey. A proper jedi would never have been caught off guard like that," Kylo said with a straight face and as bored a tone as he could fake.

Rey growled at him and charged. Kylo smirked. He watched her approach with thrilled delight and stepped out of the way at the last moment. Rey pivoted on the spot and swung her blade in a wide arc aimed at Kylo's midriff, but Kylo stopped it with his own blade at the last moment. He leaned into the block and took the opportunity to blow a poof of air at the loose hairs on her forehead.

Rey leapt back and stared at him with narrowed eyes, her lightsaber loose at her side. A moment later, her eyes widened. "You don't want me dead."

"I don't," Kylo confirmed. He turned his blade back off, but kept it in his hand.

Rey deactivated her own lightsaber and stepped forward. "What do you want?" she asked again, but this time nothing but curiosity colored the words.

You.

He said nothing.

"You're here for the child too, aren't you?"

He shrugged, both a confirmation and a dismissal.

"I won't let you have her, Ben," Rey said, and she started walking away.

No.

Don't leave.

He didn't even think about it. He just reached out with the force, and a wall of sand formed in front of her, blocking her path. He knew he shouldn't, and yet…

Rey's shoulders shook, her breath hitched, and her whole body trembled. "Will you never let me go?" she asked in a small, quiet voice.

He released her without a thought, and the wall of sand he had built crumbled with his heart. He knew he should apologize, but he couldn't make himself speak. He watched in helpless silence as Rey sprinted away from him and the beach, leaving him alone on the shore.

The roaring of the waves was no match for what he felt in his heart. He stumbled. He couldn't process what just happened. He simply couldn't.

With an outcry of fury, he activated his lightsaber and slashed the sand, as it was the only thing within reach.

The sand melted under the heat of the blade, and it transformed.

"Glass," Kylo said. His curiosity temporarily overwhelmed his grief, and he deliberately drew his lightsaber through the sand, marveling at the transition of sand to glass. His heart still raced, and he could not quite yet think about what happened with Rey, but he could do this. He recalled his old calligraphy set and wondered if the art could be performed in the sand with his blade.

He would find out, and when he had traced lines of glass on every foot of dry sand on this beach, perhaps he could revisit his thoughts and analyze what had happened.

The Sun rose high into the sky and sweat poured down his back as Kylo lost himself to the strokes and swirls of his lightsaber on the sandy beach. At some point, he stripped down to his pants and boots. His artwork extended from the grass all the way down to where the sand was still damp from the receding tide. When he could not move another step for twenty feet without interrupting his creation or extending it into wet sand, he shrugged off his boots too, unclipped his lightsaber to leave on the shore, and waded into the water.

The frigid cold water instantly cooled both his body and mind, though the saltwater found every microscopic spot where bits of the newly molten glass had splattered his clothes and burned through. It stung, but he relished the pain. Pain he understood and could process, and with that realization, he found he could think about his encounter with Rey.

He wanted her. He wanted her badly. She was his match in so many ways, and he never felt so alive as when she was challenging him.

The undertow tugged out the sand from beneath his feet, and another wave splashed into him. The pain from his many small burns began to lessen as he grew used to it.

Kylo could think of no better match than Rey for him, and he wanted to spend the rest of his days being challenged by her. Similarly, he knew that he was the best person to challenge Rey… they could grow so powerful together, but…

Did she want that?

He fell face-first into the ocean, blowing bubbles through his nose to prevent the saltwater from entering, and swam through the constantly shifting water. He wanted to lose himself in its darkness. He allowed the waves to tumble his body back and forth. When he felt his lungs would burst, he broke free of the water and gasped for air.

He wanted Rey badly, but he did not want her against her will. He was not above imprisoning someone, but the fire that blossomed within Rey required freedom. He wanted to fan those flames until they seared away all the loneliness and pain they both felt.

"Rey," he said softly, clenching his eyes shut as he drifted with the current. She did not want what he wanted. She rejected him before, and she showed no interest in reconciliation today.

He had lost her.

Grief shook him, and his eyes heated with tears that slipped free to join the ocean water. He roared his anguish and sobbed until he felt empty. Some part of him questioned if he should even bother leaving the water again, but he was a survivor. He had been broken before.

He would survive this too.

When Kylo's legs became weak, he trudged his way free of the waters. He noted absently that the glass creation was no longer in sight on the beach, so the ocean currents must have carried him far down the shoreline. He would need to return eventually to collect his lightsaber, at least, but it could wait.

He stretched out on the hot sand and gazed at the sky. The sun was falling again, and the wind had calmed, leaving the clouds nearly stationary above him. The sand and air began to cool somewhat, and his skin dried off.

The storm had passed. He felt peace again.

As time passed, exhaustion tugged at his consciousness. He was nearly asleep when he heard the unstable vibration of his own blade being lit nearby.

He opened his eyes to see Rey standing just a few feet away to his left. She held his lit blade and locked onto his eyes with her own. Adrenaline coursed through him at the thought of her striking him down. Should he try to stop her? He would not kill her. The regret of what he had nearly done on Crait consumed him for weeks after. Then again, eventually, one of them would have to kill the other if they were to remain adversaries, and if he couldn't kill her...

Kylo closed his eyes.

The next few seconds lasted a lifetime. However, no blade entered him. He heard his lightsaber shut off, and he felt fabric hit his bare chest. Kylo opened his eyes and sat up to find his tunic and socks on his lap. Rey placed his boots by his feet next and crouched beside him, staring at the ocean deliberately. She kept his lightsaber in her hands.

"Put your clothes on. We need to talk," Rey muttered.

A faint blush marked what he could see of her ears and cheeks. The sight stirred his heart, and Kylo inwardly cursed his traitorous heart for anticipating what was coming. There would be nothing. She had already rejected him and walked away. This was probably just about the war or maybe the kid… probably the kid. She didn't have the kid with her. Unexpected.

Kylo put on his tunic and boots. He would not have minded more time with the sand between his toes, but those simple pleasures lost much of their appeal with Rey so close while out of reach.

"Thank you," Rey said when she realized he was decent. She looked slightly back at him, studying him. "I need to know what you intend to do with the girl. She wouldn't leave with me voluntarily, but if you're just going to march over there and abduct or kill-"

"No," Kylo said, interrupting her. He might have before Rey came, but he no longer had the spare energy to deal with a reluctant brat of the force.

Rey frowned and twisted around to face him fully. "You'll let her be?"

"For now," he said.

Rey twisted back to face the ocean. "She has a family… a mom, a dad… siblings… grandparents that all love each other. They even have pets and a garden. She's happy. She knows that the galaxy will need her abilities someday, but she wants to have that life while she can." Rey shivered, and her grief was palpable. That's right. Rey had always wanted a family.

Kylo studied Rey's right hand where she leaned on it in the sand. He wanted badly to touch it and comfort her, but he knew he was unwelcome. He formed fists instead and clenched his jaw against the urge. He should leave before he had more to regret.

"I need my lightsaber, Rey."

"What will you do with it, Ben?" she asked while looking at his lightsaber hilt in her hands.

"Leave," he said. He wondered if he would have to choose between taking the lightsaber from her with the force and abandoning it to her. If he were to build a new one, would he bleed its kyber crystal as well? He was not sure he had enough darkness left in him for such a task.

Rey froze for five seconds before she hugged the lightsaber hilt to her. "We still need to talk."

"Will you never let me go?" Kylo quoted back at her from earlier, hoping the words would dig hard enough to help her realize she was holding him hostage by keeping his lightsaber from him.

Rey flinched as if stung. She stood up, flung his lightsaber at him, and clenched her fists. "What's wrong with you!?"

Kylo calmly clipped his lightsaber to his side and stood up to return to his ship. He didn't have words to explain the devastation he felt after finally accepting her rejection of him.

He turned his back on Rey and took two steps when he heard her move. The sound of her lightsaber filled his right ear. He glanced down to see the blade inches from his neck. He sighed and closed his eyes. "What are you doing, Rey?"

"Fight me, Ben," Rey demanded over the hum of her lightsaber.

"I'm tired, Rey," Kylo said. He heard the lightsaber switch off, took a step, and fell face-first into the beach as the sand under his foot suddenly scattered away. He spit out a mouth of sand and glared at Rey, who towered over him with determination painted across her face.

"Why won't you fight back?" Rey whispered.

"I'm in no mood to play games, Rey," he said and pulled himself to his hands and knees just as what felt like a wave of ice cold saltwater crashed on him, soaking him to the bone. He whipped his eyes up to Rey, who glared at him.

"Fight me," she insisted, her face serious.

Kylo sighed and collapsed into a seated position facing her rather than risk having the sand pulled out from beneath him again. "Why do you want me to fight you?"

Rey growled at him, looked away sharply, blew out a deep breath, and crouched down in front of him on the heels of her feet. Her brow was tugged together, and the corners of her lips turned down slightly. "I need to know you're okay."

Kylo looked at her a moment in confusion before he realized what was going on. "You're worried. Why?"

Rey rolled back to sit and hugged her knees, resting her chin on them. "Why did you let me go earlier? Why didn't you protect yourself when I held my lightsaber to your neck just now?"

Kylo stared at her, trying to think of the best way to put what he felt into words. "I don't want you to lose," he finally said. Her eyes widened, and he looked away, not wanting the opportunity to guess her thoughts from her expression. He turned to gaze at the ocean instead and watched the waves come in and out. The crash of the water offered little comfort to his frustration, and his wet clothes were sapping him of warmth.

"Why?" Rey asked after some time had passed.

"You know why," Kylo muttered without hesitating or looking at her. Surely there was no way she could have missed how desperately he wanted to be with her. He had offered her the galaxy at his side like some lovesick youth and begged her when she did not accept right away. He knew he was a fool, but he could not help what he felt. His vision blurred, and he turned away before she could see the tears slip out.

Rey stood back up, and Kylo's heart lurched at the thought of her leaving. He wondered if he would ever see her again. He certainly would not seek her out next time they crossed paths when this agony was his reward.

"Ben," Rey said after a moment of standing there. "I'm going to need to check back here and make sure that little girl is doing okay… maybe once a standard month or so? You could check too, to keep an eye on things."

Kylo squeezed his eyes shut against the wave of frustration he felt at hearing her words. "Why are you doing this, Rey?"

"Because I care about you," Rey said.

"You didn't care about me when you left me unconscious on a broken ship," Kylo reminded her, looking up at her. "Just this morning you were prepared to kill me."

Her narrowed eyes met his like crosshairs finding their target. "You didn't love me when you tried to force me to stay on the Supremacy." She kept her eyes on him, but they softened. "But something changed since then."

"What is this, Rey? You discover my feelings for you deepened and now you want me around? I'm not interested in preserving the Resistance or letting go of my darkness, so don't count on me to don white robes and save the day. There is nothing to gain from getting close to me." He took a deep breath. "You don't want me. Why make me suffer more?"

To Kylo's surprise, Rey's face fell slack with shock, except for her chin, which trembled violently. Tears slipped free from her eyes, drawing wet trails down her cheeks, and then fury overtook her. "You think I'm still trying to recruit you to the Resistance?" She flexed her rigid hands. "Ben, if I were only here for the Resistance, I would have killed you. Poe's been trying to convince me to assassinate you since Crait. Even General Organa has said she would forgive me for doing what needs to be done, as she put it. They don't want me to recruit you. They wouldn't trust you to be in the same solar system as them. They want you dead."

Kylo closed his eyes as he processed the grief that even his own mother had given up on him. He had wanted to apologize to her for what happened… for killing Han, for allowing his men to nearly kill her. He had thought her gone when he attacked the Resistance on Crait so mercilessly. Perhaps, in the moment, he would not have altered his attack plans on Crait had he known his mother was there, but he had been relieved afterwards to discover she survived.

"Ben?" Rey said.

Kylo blinked a few times and looked at her. He had actually forgotten she was there for a moment.

"I'm committing treason by letting you live," Rey said. She sat down next to him, also facing the ocean. "But you… I never told anyone about our force bond."

"Me either," he said. Who would he tell? He had no friends, except perhaps Hux, if that cold rivalry of sarcasm and passive aggressive challenges could be considered friendship. The man hadn't outright tried to kill him though, so that was something, and occasionally they drank together.

Rey sighed, drawing Kylo's attention to her. She was biting her lip and staring at her hand where it rested on the sand. Slowly, she splayed her fingers into the sand, pulled them back together, and splayed them again. "Ben," she said and looked to him. "If… and I do mean if… If we were to… be something other than enemies, would you stop me again? From trying to save the Resistance, or leaving when I want, that is..."

"I don't understand," Kylo said. What was she getting at? They were at war, and she had rejected him. How could they not be enemies at this point?

Rey inhaled quickly and let it out. "The next time we are together and the Resistance needs me, will you stop me from going to them to help them?"

Kylo shook his head before he even fully considered it. He was tired of fighting Rey. "We both know I can't stop you when you want to go," he added. He had lost to her in many ways.

She narrowed her eyes. "Would you stop me if you could?"

He shook his head again. "I shouldn't have tried on the Supremacy. I'm sorry, Rey. I wasn't thinking. I had gotten it in my head that you… wanted to be with me. I was drawn to you. I killed Snoke for you, Rey. We got along, we could learn so much from each other, and I knew you were lonely… it just made sense." He scowled. "But that's not how those things work. Once I remembered that, I felt nothing but shame at my actions."

"You tried to stop me again this morning," Rey pointed out, stabbing the sand with a finger.

"I wanted to talk to you. I didn't want to lose you again," Kylo said. He took a deep breath. "But it doesn't matter. There's no point in stopping you if you don't want to stay." The wind picked back up, and Kylo realized his clothes were drying rapidly despite the quickly setting sun. "It's getting darker, Rey. I should go."

He started pulling himself up when he felt her hand grasp his. Her hand was small and ice-cold, just like last time. He stared at her in confusion. "What are you doing, Rey?" he asked. His heartbeat raced at the contact. He started to pull away, and she held it tighter. Kylo ripped his hand free and stood up. Rey followed him upright, and they stood facing each other.

"Ben, I want to see you again," Rey said. "Please."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I…" she cut herself off sharply and looked away. "Do you have any idea how scared I was when you tried to keep me from helping my friends?"

"I already apologized, Rey," Kylo grumbled and started walking away. Rey fell into his pace at his side, and Kylo resisted the urge to speed up.

"I'm trying to say I would have come back, Ben!"

Kylo froze and stared at her. "What do you mean?"

Rey sighed and faced him. "If you hadn't tried to stop me from helping the Resistance, I would have come back to you after."

Kylo didn't understand. "We were at war, Rey. You only came to me because you thought I would join you with the Resistance."

Rey shrugged. "In part, but I thought we would be together regardless. You said I wasn't alone, Ben. Before we had the visions, before we ever talked about how what was between us would impact the war, you said I wasn't alone. I wanted to be with you. I never felt more alone than when I had to leave your side."

Kylo stared at her dumbfounded as she kept her eyes locked on him and took his hand in hers once more.

"Ben, I want to see you again."

"Okay," he rasped.

"Okay?" Rey asked, cracking a smile despite watery eyes.

"You're sure?" Kylo asked. He didn't want to risk misunderstanding her. "You're sure you want to be at my side? Despite everything?"

"You'll let me leave when I need to go?" Rey asked. "You won't try to stop me?"

"I won't try to stop you," Kylo said with every fiber of his being.

"And if we get in another fight, you won't try to kill me and everyone I love immediately after in a fit of rage?"

Kylo's ears burned in shame. "Maybe you can help me learn to tame my temper."

Rey shook her head and laughed. "I'd be a poor teacher. I nearly killed Finn when I first met him just because I didn't know why he was wearing Poe's jacket."

Kylo tried to smile, but the thought of Rey being so protective of the handsome Poe Dameron irked him. "You, uh… are you and Poe close?"

Rey shrugged. "I guess. I mean, we're the top two pilots, and we're both close to General Organa… oh, and Finn and BB-8. I'm closer to Finn though."

Kylo's heart sank several levels with her admission. "Rey," he said, and he paused as he decided how much he should say. "I want to kiss you," he blurted out.

Rey's eyes widened with shock as her eyes darted to his lips. "Oh, umm, okay," she said in a high-pitched voice. "Right now?"

Kylo's heart leapt to his throat. "Not right now, I mean, yes, right now too, but I want to be in a relationship where I can kiss you, well, not right away necessarily, but… argh." He rubbed his free hand through his mess of sand-dusted, ocean-tangled hair. "I don't know that I could handle being close to you when you're kissing other people."

"Oh!" Rey said and burst out laughing. "No, I'm not kissing Finn or Poe or anyone else. Finn is like a brother, and Poe is…" She made a weird face. "Poe. Poe is Poe. He flirts with everyone, but we don't have anything special like that. Poe and me, that is," she said.

"Do we? You and me?" Kylo asked. His entire being trembled in anticipation of her answer.

Rey studied him carefully. Her eyes traced over his eyes, his hair, his ears, his jaw, his lips, his nose, and back up to his eyes. "I think so."

Kylo let a long deep breath he had not realized he had been holding. "Good," Kylo said. It was too soon to kiss her, but that did not mean it was too soon to be close. He stepped into the gap between them slightly, narrowing the distance. "Let's see each other again."

Rey nodded. "I think that, as this planet has a young force user, it would make sense that we both visit to keep an eye on her and train her when she's willing."

"Together?" Kylo asked.

"Together," Rey confirmed, stepping so close to him that she had to crane her neck up to maintain eye contact, and their chests brushed each other with each breath.

"I can do that," Kylo said.

"Good," Rey said. She closed her eyes and leaned into him with her arms loose at her sides. "May I stay like this?

"May we continue in my ship?" Kylo asked. As much as he was enjoying having Rey lean on him, he wanted to change into something that hadn't been soaked in the ocean, and it was rapidly getting dark now. "It's warmer there, and we could spend more time together."

"That sounds nice," Rey said. "By the way, what were those glass drawings in the sand? They were your doing, right? How did you make them? They were amazing!"

Kylo grinned and launched into an explanation, and they returned to his ship hand-in-hand.

I miss the beach. Please review! Like, seriously. I'm going to be stuck home caring for my sick 3yo tomorrow and hoping I don't catch what he has. Give me some nice distractions, please?