Ben, no!

The lights within the Tantative IV's corridors were invasive, pouring into the cramped cube that made up Ben's current quarters. One sharp sliver of fluorescent light illuminated across the tile floor that separated his cot from the table. Ben laid in the shadows, eyes fixated through the pane of glass that separated him from the rest of the resistance. No one ever bothered taking this stretch of hallway-partially in fault to Ben being a presence that everyone had to pass by on their way through.

Panic gripped his heart and squeezed it tightly. It brought him from his already restless sleep and scrambling for a lightsaber that he didn't have. Nothing came to his hand when his panicked call urged it forth, nothing but a flexing of his fingers and the realization that Rey still held it in her quarters. How conventional of them to confiscate it before his execution...

Ben grimaced, rolling from his cot to stand, one hand braced at his side. Around him, the metal walls groaned almost soundlessly, holding a slight tremor with his growing power. He could hear them shift, the nails holding them together bend the barest amount, and the window threatened to crack.

A shadow flickered by it, so sudden as it came and went that for a moment Ben wondered if he had seen anything at all. But there was no undeniability that he could feel it. That other presence outside of his room, the trembling in the force that pushed him on the alert and away from and thoughts of sleep.

Mind now sharpened with a newfound adrenaline, Ben remained still and waited, every muscle still like a cornered animal, brow drawn, lips parted as if to call out, though to who, he didn't quite know. The only person he'd ever begged to in his life rejected him more times than he could count.

The door to his cell opened, blaster fire following the sudden intrusion.

But he was ready.

Bright pulsations of light ricocheted off of the steel walls and fizzled into nothing, barely illuminating his rattled assassin with each missed shot. He had no time to actually think, his mind and body, one in unison with the force deflected each sloppy attempt on his life sideways with a flourishing hand wave.

His assailant turned and fled through the doorway, but it was too late. Before even he could comprehend it, Ben threw a hand out, his mind delving into the force so quickly, willing it to heed his call. With one jerking motion forward and another thrown back, the would-be assassin slid back into the room, landing with a loud thud against the tile floor.

A tense hush fell over the room-save for the intruder's panicked gasps as he struggled to catch his breath. Ben took on a much more recognizable posture, one that bled Kylo Ren-bled anger, and hate. His form was overbearing, a hard line formed in his mouth as his steps boomed in the pin-drop silence.

The man-at least he assumed as much as he could in the pale light-grasped for the floor underneath him, but Ben didn't grant him that reprieve, one swift cut through the air and his assailant was pressed hard into the floor, willing limbs to work that wouldn't unless Ben said so.

He wanted to kill him, with this man underneath his hand and the world shuddering around him. And he very well could have, being at his mercy. It wasn't like he had to think of those who were more worthy or those who actually deserved it. Not before when things made more sense.

"This is all your fault." Ben snapped, taking in a shuddering breath to gain some semblance of calm. "You shouldn't be here!"

It didn't work.

"I'm… I'm sorry." He choked, the force grip pressing harder, holding him down, gripping his throat tighter at Ben's own growing frustration. "You're… You're a murderer if you do this!"

Ben closed his eyes at the floor to breathe without wavering his focus, a fuming tug forcing a tighter grip on the assassin's neck, and his eyes snapped open to unveil something more complex, more feral. "You and I don't seem too different in that regard."

He'd moved to a ruthless prosecution, a malicious hunt for the truth behind the man's intentions with no promise of reprieve, that there would be a reason that Ben Solo would be made a target. That it wasn't just because of the actions of Kylo Ren.

The philosophy was more complicated, but at one point he'd been a man of no morals.

It wasn't difficult to find that again now.

"The only difference is that I can do it right."

"Plea… Please…"

Somehow his begging made him feel ashamed, as if he would be guilty for simply defending himself. Like the man underneath his torture was a victim, and Ben somehow held the key, the choice. Ben was scared in his own right, angry. He'd learned how to open himself to the light, just not how to let the familiar darkness go.

"I could kill you." Ben's teeth snapped together as he yelled. "Do you understand me?" His vice moved to the man's abdomen, and with one mere request, his other hand hovering over, his victim writhed in place, shaking uncontrollably. Ben's own expression was eerily vacant as they locked onto the man-no, the boy. He thought he could hear his bone's begin to shift.

Except his mind snagged on the orange jumpsuit and the standard issued resistance blaster still clutched in his fisted hands. Every muscle was coiled tightly with focus, inspecting his face in the protruding light of the hallway. It was not one he recognized, clean shaven, close cropped hair, and features of nothing more than a boy in his late teens.

And a somberness leaked through the dark endless depths of his eyes as he found himself hesitating. The why completely eluded him. Their eyes were locked, the boy's wide and scared, and angry. Perhaps it was that familiar feeling that stayed his hand.

Then Ben's gaze hardened again, trapping his mortality inside. All at once, his death grip released, and Ben forced himself to blink, calming his raging focus.

Murderer. Monster.

Kylo Ren would have lied, betrayed, and killed anyone who got in his way. Only because there were those that enabled him to, and no matter who, his motives never changed. He'd waded through life with a mindset that it was better to be feared, because there was no one that would grant him any reprieve.

One person, maybe.

Ben's head tilted downward, retreating back a few steps. His lips furled, words barely able to escape without a stutter of hate and dismay. His anger felt as if it was pouring from him in waves, and he had to step back. It made him feel ill, to feel their anger pounding against each other-even if Ben's was much stronger. More painful.

Floodgates had opened inside, heavy and invasive. Impossible to get away from. He couldn't block it out, couldn't focus on anything. Ben imagined Rey, saying his name wrapped in anguish and rage; spit it like venom. The thought beat on him and drug him under, making it difficult for him to breathe.

There was a moment where he felt as if he could feel her presence there. And by the gods there were times that she felt so close but far away at the same time. It was like he was imagining it, a slight tugging sensation in the back of his mind that pulled their thread together.

Ben hoped he was imagining it.

But it was enough to bring him back to reality. "Get. Out!" He hissed through clenched teeth.

The boy doubled over in a fit of coughing, his blaster gripped tightly in one hand, palms pressed to the floor. Sweat beaded his forehead, reeking with panic.

Over time, demise had developed its own particular scent. Horrid and sour, drifting from a smoking blaster, singed flesh burned at a cauterized wound just at Ben's shoulder, carved by a sudden blast.

The sound was loud, and untamed. It tasted like panic and a sudden rush of adrenaline that was a product of a very, very bad last second decision. The burning sensation was like a poking and prodding of small metal appendages that pulled at his skin reminiscent of one scar he had tended to before, nothing more than an annoyance, a relatively small inconvenience.

It pumped adrenaline through his already pounding heart just the same.

A pleading kid reaching for him in desperation, ignorant of his own peril just a mere few seconds from him.

"Wait! Don't shoot-"

The blaster was yanked from the kid's hands by an invisible force and came to rest in Ben's own. Its first shot was a dull hum in Ben's ears, the other two deafened out one after the other. The broad expanse of his shoulders rose and fell, a blaster now rattling against his side in one white knuckled grip, furious and hungry.

Ben didn't hear anything when their eyes met. Nothing but a silent warning as the smoke poured from the wall just above the kid's head who cowered on the floor. His own fear was replaced with something else, something he couldn't quite define as he marched over. Fingers curling into his long sleeves gave shelter to his curled fists that swung furiously at his sides; the blaster was tossed away, skidding and clattering across the floor.

And his two hands that played the deciding factor secured themselves in the kid's shirt collar, yanking him up. Hands that held more than enough kills for lifetimes, ones that lay waiting to claim more.

And in one fluent motion, Ben threw him through the now open doorway. His small, thin frame slid across the floor with a grunt, his panicked gasps releasing in quick succession.

Lights flickered on in the hallway one by one, one long continuous row that stretched on into the endless corridors that still confused him.

Now, there was no darkness to hide him.

A heartbeat pounded loudly and oddly out of rhythm with the fluttering that wrenched his own. Perhaps it was just another nightmare, mocking him for choosing the paths that he had. Haunting him for ever deciding to come back from it.

In the back of his mind, the part of the thread that kept him and Rey connected hummed with life. Like every single being that passed judgement in his life, it was always there, but now it was awake, reaching through the farthest reaches of the galaxy to find his other half.

And it didn't reach very far. Hitting against a wall at a full on sprint, the link crushed under the weight of that she used to block him out so tightly that there was not even a small gap that he could reach through if to just feel her. No cracks for him to pound against. Ben had to wear a mask to shield himself from her, and most times she saw through that, too.

It crushed him, dark tendrils ripping at his heart, and twisting around his insides. He would never escape in the same sense and any breath of his own that he could catch was immediately lost, staring into light. Bright, and blinding all at once.

But it was a reminder that their bond still persisted. That they were still connected.

For a moment, he lost his predatory darkness that made Kylo Ren so renown. That made this so easy. The internalized rage that came and went as needed, a ruthlessness that was conditional but necessary. One that always returned with a vengeance.

She emerged all at once, always there but never close enough at the same time. Two lightsabers were clenched in the palms of her hands though not activated. Was she afraid?

Before he hadn't noticed how much smaller she was compared to him, only because she stood her ground so easily.

Rey vented all of the anger, hurt, frustration, pain, everything in that moment into one careful question of her own, tilting her head up to address him fully.

"Are you okay?"


Author's Note:

Hey guys!

First, I hope you guys enjoy this newest chapter. It is short in comparison to the others, but I only have it set up for one scene without it being too ramble-y compared to the other chapters. I just didn't think a 5K word count would fit-also being just one scene.

Second, I'd like to thank everyone following along on this adventure with me. The reviews that I have gotten so far have all been so kind and positive, and it makes me really happy that people are enjoying it!

And lastly:

I hope everyone is doing well with the world being crazy right now, and please everyone stay safe out there and be no stranger to helping your neighbors!

Thanks and I hope you guys have enjoyed and also enjoy what I have coming up in the future! :D