CHAPTER TEN:

Rey plunges into the forest. Her chest heaves, not with the effort of running, but from the pulsing anxiety. She can hear him calling her name. Why won't he let her be? Why hasn't he disappeared yet?

"Rey! Wait. Please. Stop."

She has no plans on stopping. She'll press on until she can't anymore.

It doesn't take long to reach that point. Three more steps and she barrels into some invisible obstruction.

.

Kylo stops too as Rey is sent sprawling to the floor. He can see what she couldn't, his TIE fighter in the Leviathan's hangar. "Are you okay?"

She scrambles up onto her feet, rounds on him, eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't me," he says, pointing insistently behind her.

.

Rey throws a quick glance behind her. The gasp rips from her before she can stop herself. She sees it now, in the middle of the forest, a TIE fighter. She runs a hand over it, feeling the cool structure. Her hand retreats as if it's been bitten.

She flips around. "What can you see?"

.

He gives his surroundings a quick once-over. "Just you," he replies, keeping to himself the sounds of whistling wind and rustling leaves, the smells of earth and air, that are gradually becoming more pronounced.

Her eyes dart from side to side.

.

In the forest, more ships are manifesting. The hangar is coming into sharp relief around her, until it looks like she's standing in the space ship, the trees encroaching on a place they don't belong. "Why is this happening?"

She closes her eyes, drawing deep breaths in, focusing on slipping away.

.

It works. Kylo lurches forward as her form flickers and fades, as she pulls away from him. "Wait!" he calls again. He hates the desperate tone that cracks through his voice. But he knows now that if he lets her go, they will not meet again unless it is in battle. "Did you really only come because of my mother?"

Rey's eyes fly open. She solidifies again. Relief ripples through him.

.

Eyes narrowed in suspicion, she considers his question. "Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know." She shakes her head, stares around herself. The forest is more pronounced than the hangar again, but the TIE fighter lurks behind her still. It could be a sign. That she's still in control. That... "Do I have a hope?"

He blinks at her. "Of changing me?"

.

She nods, so subtly, her eyes boring into his, imploring him to consider. He has to avert his gaze, unable to hold the power of her stare. "Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know."

He finds the courage to look up again.

For one long, pondering moment, they hold each other's gazes.

.

Rey feels something in her stir, something in the Force. She looks away, clears her throat, breathing shakily. She can feel all the pressure resting on this moment. Her heart hammers with the wish to hold to hope. If she doesn't speak, that hope will linger. If she does, it might all be lost. There is courage required in opening that box. And open it, she does. "You spoke once of escaping the past. We could build something new together. Once we dismantle the First Order."

"And what of the Resistance? The Jedi? Will we dismantle them too?

She flinches at the bitterness in his tone. But hope hasn't fully broken yet. There are tendrils to cling to. "The Resistance will dissolve when they have nothing left to fight. And the Jedi are all but gone as it is."

He scoffs at that, fists his hands at his side. Frustration burns in his eyes. "Our visions fo the future are not the same. Why are we pretending that we will ever see eye to eye?"

The TIE fighter is fading as is her hope. She's losing this chance. Maybe it was lost before she ever started. "So that's it? You are Supreme Leader? And I am Resistance? And so we are Enemies?"

"As we ever were," he says coolly.

"I don't believe you. He chased her. He called for her. Why would he do that if he some part of him didn't want for more? She reaches with the Force, seeking out the conflict that wars within him. She can feel it, as she did once when he first captured her, the fear and uncertainty that dwells down deep. And she feels it more than ever she has. The two sides of him. Kylo Ren. Ben Solo.

.

Her soft defeat calms that surge of irritation. He feels her reaching for him, feels in her in turn an earnestness to win him over. For a breath, he wants to believe. But it is just a dream. "I offered you my hand once. You turned it down."

"I turned down Kylo Ren. But I would have accepted Ben Solo. I still would." Her hand stretches out. "Be with me, Ben. Join me. Let's stop this war. Let's see the rise of a new dawn."

He stares long and hard at her hand across the divide between them, a gap that seems to be forever widening in its breadth. His fingers flex, the conflict in him radiating like the rays of the sun.

So invested is he in this moment, he cannot hear the footsteps padding on the floor behind him, cannot sense the intention of the unknown figure. He senses nothing until it's too late.

A blaster goes off. His quick reflexes are the only thing that saves him, and the bolt that meant to take him through the heart only catches his left shoulder.

Grunting in pain, he stumbles to the floor.

.

"Ben!" Rey lurches forward. She cannot see his assailant, sees nothing now but him, on the ground.

He looks up once to meet her eyes. "No. Go!"

He's on his feet in the next second, turning on her, igniting his lightsaber.

"I can help you." Her lightsaber flares blue, slices through the air. "We can—"

"There is no we," he says, waving a dismissive hand.

The connection breaks, and he is gone.

AN: Just want to thank everyone following and liking and reviewing this story so far. I hope you're enjoying it :)