A/N The following chapter includes mention of torture and rape. I do not go into detail with either, but as I know they can be triggers, I thought I should give you a heads up.
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Rey's dream that night started out just like it always did. She had so hoped that her conversation with Poe via the holonet would prevent it, but his actual presence these last two weeks hadn't, so why she had thought her talk with him today would, she didn't know. Maybe because for the first time in weeks their exchange had not included any drama, arguing, or other crazy emotions. But, despite her positive attitude before going to bed, the dream came.
Only she might as well call it what is was: A nightmare.
She was on Starkiller Base, restrained in the interrogation chair. She was disoriented and frightened, remembering how the tall man she knew must be Kylo Ren had immobilized her on Takodana and had seemed to pry into her brain. He was there, watching her, from a squatting position on the other side of the room. She took in a deep breath, glancing about her. "Where am I?" Her voice broke.
"You're my guest," he replied, in as pleasant a voice as he could muster with the mask on.
"Where are the others?" Finn. Han. Chewie. BB-8. She prayed they were okay.
"You mean the murderers, traitors and thieves you call friends?" She didn't reply as he paused. "You'll be relieved to know I have no idea." He cocked his head slightly. "You still want to kill me," he said softly.
"That happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask," she told him, her voice firm now. She would not give in to her fear.
He stood suddenly, and deep-down Rey knew this is where memory changed to nightmare. He did not remove his helmet. He walked slowly toward her and she felt the Force power emanating from him; it was so strong it almost crackled. Her breathing quickened as the fear increased. "Tell me about the droid," he demanded, his mechanical voice making the already terrifying memory of this interrogation that much more frightening in its difference.
"He's a BB Unit with a selenium drive and thermal hyperscan vindicator…"
"That's carrying a section of a navigational chart. We have the rest, recovered from the archives of the Empire, but we need the last piece. And somehow, you convinced the droid to show it to you." He paused. "You. A scavenger." He leaned close to her, close enough she could feel the static coming off of the metal on his mask. "You know I can take whatever I want," he whispered.
Then he was there. In her head. She pushed back, confident in her own Force power now enough to fight, but the memory of the pain was too much. She winced. "I'm not giving you anything!" she told him.
"Leave her alone!" a voice demanded from her right, weak but insistent. Startled, she turned her head, shocked to see Poe in a chair similar to hers, facing them. His face was bloody and bruised. An old Imperial torture droid was visible just behind him and Rey felt the agony rising from him through the Force; it was obvious Ren had already pulled whatever information he could from him. Weakened by the physical beating and the droid, Poe had never stood a chance against Ren's forceful mind probe.
"Poe!" Rey cried, struggling against her bonds even more, now.
Ren drew back a bit, looking back and forth between the two of them. He brought his hand down from its position near her face and carefully touched her neck, running his index finger along the collar of her tunic. Rey shuddered at the feel of the glove on her skin. She heard Poe straining against the chair he was in. "Stop touching her, you bastard!"
Ren paused, and though she couldn't see it, she sensed that he was smiling. "Maybe there is a way to get the information I need without having to use so much effort," he said softly. "Who knows, maybe I'll even get some pleasure out of it." He dropped his hand down to grab her breast.
"No!" Rey shouted in protest as Poe growled. She tried to wriggle away from his touch, but he held her still with the Force. "Please, no!"
"I think yes," Ren told her, moving his body in close to hers, his hands already at work on her belt and leggings.
She knew what his intent was, and she turned her head away from Poe, fear and shame consuming her. "Please, stop," she whispered, knowing it was no use. Tears streamed down her face as she heard Poe cursing and struggling. She didn't know which was worse: the fact her innocence was about to be destroyed in such a manner, or the fact that Poe was being forced to watch it happen. Then she felt the first touch of gloved hands on bared skin…
Rey jerked awake, sitting up in bed gasping for air, tears streaming down her cheeks. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it tightly to her chest, trying to slow her breathing down. It had changed. The horrible nightmare she had been having almost every night for the last two weeks had changed. The memory of her interrogation was the same, as was the fact that Ren never removed his helmet before his painful questioning of her. Then the terrifying moment when she realized he intended to rape her. The difference tonight made the horrible experience that much worse: Poe was there. He had never been there before.
She felt Skyler move restlessly inside her, and she tried to send positive thoughts his way. While he wasn't nearly old enough to understand what was going on with his mother, he still felt her anxiety. As did Shaina most nights. The child always seemed to wake after Rey did, feeling her mother's fear and confusion. Rey looked toward the door of the bedroom, expecting Shaina to be standing there, but she wasn't. She took a deep breath and reached out unobtrusively through the Force to her daughter, and was pleased to feel the toddler still sleeping soundly in the room next door. Maybe Rey was finally getting those shields up in time when she woke, or maybe Shaina was just getting used to her mother's night attacks.
And that's what they were. Attacks. Rey hated that an already horrible memory could become even more vile. She truly felt there was something or someone behind these dreams, but despite all of her meditations and mental journeys, she could not find the source. And now Poe was a part of them. Rey shook her head, praying to the Force that Poe had not shared this dream with her as he had shared others with her in the past. Taking a deep breath, she got up and went to the fresher.
She wondered if she should try and communicate with Ben; maybe he would have answers for her. She knew for certain he had nothing to do with these dreams, despite the fact he was a part of them. Kylo Ren never removed his helmet in the dream, while in her real memory he had done so very early on, humanizing himself to Rey. She had often wondered why he had done that; to put her at ease or make her even more afraid?
Rey climbed back in bed, taking the pillow she had been hugging earlier and curling herself around it as she lay back down on her side. She knew from experience she would not dream again the rest of the night, but that knowledge didn't make it any easier to get to sleep. Her mind flashed back to the image of Poe in her dream. He had told her about his own interrogation at the hands of Kylo Ren shortly after they had escaped Crait in the Millennium Falcon. He had been beaten, then drugs had been given to him to weaken his mind, and yet he had not told them what he had done with the map; both his Republic military training and Leia's own guidance had given him an edge on how to stay quiet even during torture. But Ren had finally broken him.
During that quiet conversation while most of the rest of the Resistance survivors slept, Poe had learned that Rey had also been Force tortured by Ren. Poe had labeled them "torture buddies," doing his best to make light of a situation that both he and Rey would never be able to forget. It was the beginning of their friendship, one that had been almost inevitable thanks to BB-8. It had taken more than a year and the end of the war for that friendship to evolve into romance, but Poe had long ago admitted to Rey that his feelings for her had already begun that day on the Falcon. Rey always felt that if she hadn't been so focused on her training with Leia, and on her unique connection to Ben, she might have noticed his interest, but she had been oblivious.
Finally, Rey felt herself sink closer to sleep. She should have told Poe about the dream, she thought again. Or somebody. Somebody who could offer her advice. Somebody who could tell her she had nothing to worry about. That they were just dreams.
It didn't matter that Rey never dreamed unless the Force was involved.
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