NOTES: Special thanks to theoriginalsuki (Tumblr & AO3) and the-east-sea/a (Tumblr) for beta-reading this chapter. I really appreciate you two for the feedback and for catching the bits I've missed. :)

Thank you also to the lovely folks who have left comments. I really appreciate reading feedback and appreciate the reassurance in knowing a story is being read, rather than disappearing into a void. It's been difficult holding out until Sunday to post this next chapter rather than just pop it up mid-week, but I know that if I'm not careful I'll wind up with the published chapters catching up with the unwritten chapters and I'm hoping to avoid that conundrum.

The Enemy (of My Enemy Is My Friend)
Chapter Two

Rey knows the burn of hot sand upon bare skin. The way the scalding grains find their way through fabric layers to sear and scratch and chafe. She knows the scorching heat of the desert sun. The endless barrage of wind. The thirst. The hunger…

Rey knows the desert all too well.

She doesn't know the jungle.

"Forest." Kylo corrects when she comments on the suffocating press of the great twisting trees. "A jungle is different." Though he doesn't elaborate as to why.

"Either way," she huffs; bracing herself as she ducks under limbs contorted by their endless search for the light. She'd take hot sand and relentless sun over the cold repression of trees, any day.

There's something about the forest that makes Rey feel deeply uncomfortable. Time loses any means of measurement within the grainy depths of brooding trees. Is it morning? Afternoon? Dappled light filters through thick branches and fat leaves, giving the impression of perpetual dusk. And perhaps that's accurate? Hours feel to have passed since waking. Night should be on its way soon, if darkness even falls upon this world.

Rey winces as a wave of nausea washes over her. It should give her something to be grateful for, she thinks. At least it keeps the hunger pangs at bay. Though hunger itself could be a measurement of time in normal circumstances.

Ahead, Kylo seems determined to hide the limp he set off with, and she wonders if it's because she walks at his back. Though she suspects pride would cause him to hide his weaknesses even if he walked alone.

Chewing her lip, Rey studies the shifting muscles beneath the swing of Kylo's cloak, and weighs up his willingness to turn his back on her. Is it that he trusts his ability to overpower her, should she attack? Or is it that he trusts her? Either answer is an uncomfortable one.

Overhead, forest animals continue to shriek their intermittent warnings, and half-seen flashes of movement catch the outskirts of Rey's vision - as if the creatures are keeping pace. Inwardly, she speculates if someone is really out there, or if the inhabitants have just slept all day and only now realised intruders have breached their territory.

Despite the incessant noise in the treetops, Rey can't help but feel acutely aware of the chasm of silence that rests at ground level. Smack between her and Kylo Ren. The weight of it sits like a load upon her shoulders, shifting and resettling with each step, until she feels buckled by the burden of it.

Several times she finds herself opening her mouth to say something - anything - only to snap her jaws shut on empty air. There are no words to fill the silence. None that won't lead to accusations and argument, anyway.

Finally, a noise of irritation scrapes Kylo's throat before he spins on his heel to face her. "Whatever it is you want to say, can you get it done already?"

"What?" Rey gapes, floundering.

He rolls his eyes, "I'm sick of the deep sighing."

"I wasn't sighing," even to her own ears, she sounds churlish. Shifting uncomfortably on her feet, she moves to pass him, "and there's nothing I want to say to you."

"Really?" Kylo raises an eyebrow and steps in her path, "no urge to ask about my father again? No desire to enquire about -"

"There's nothing I want to say to you." Biting her lip, Rey takes a breath and adds, "I'm just unnerved by the forest. I'm not used to feeling pressed from all sides…" she stops herself again, realising she's only revealing a small string of weaknesses for him to use against her.

"Fine." Forcing herself to meet Kylo's solemn brown eyes, she pulls her chin up, "I do have a question."

He raises a brow before inclining his head. Hesitant. As if half-dreading what might come out of her mouth now that he's invited her to open it.

"Do you have any idea what planet we're on?" The words fly in a half-thought-out rush. It's not what she really wants to ask, but she's not sure either of them are ready for 'why did you save me' yet, and it's probably a question best left alone anyway.

"Planet?" Kylo repeats slowly, exhaustion draining his voice despite his efforts to appear stoic, "I couldn't even tell you what system we're in."

"Right. Well. That's that, then." She moves again to pass him.

"Wait," he moves to stop her. This time with a hand to her arm, "whoever brought us here - they had the perfect opportunity to kill us. Instead, they dumped us on a backwater of a planet. There has to be a reason why."

He's not even angry about the situation, Rey realises suddenly. Wherever they are - however they got here - he's surprisingly level-headed about it all; more preoccupied on working through the puzzle than to plot revenge.

For a moment Rey's reminded of their first Force connection - of Kylo's almost boyish curiosity in how it all worked, while her only thought had been to take the opportunity to try and kill him. She pulls her gaze away, not wanting to be reminded of the conversations that eventually followed. Of how she'd trusted him so blindly.

"To hide us while they play both sides?" she offers finally, extracting herself from his grasp. "To hold us for ransom?"

"Hux would never arrange ransom for me," Kylo's voice tightens; the anger breaking through at last, "my death or disappearance would suit him too well."

It takes Rey some effort to clamp her teeth shut. The urge to suggest what that says about his character and the company he keeps contorts upon her trapped tongue. Though by the weighted silence that follows, she suspects he knows this already.

"So, your theory? I'm assuming you have one."

"It's nothing," he mutters darkly, "they wouldn't dare."

Rey watches Kylo through narrowed eyes. A scowl knits his brow and she chews at her lip, curiosity thoroughly piqued. But she lets it go. For now. And shifts her attention to the treetops. The nearby animals still shriek intermittently, but like a passing wave, the full brunt of their ruckus seems to have shifted further into the forest.

"Hey, you know what we should do? Rest." Without waiting for a reply, Rey drops herself into a thick layer of leaf mulch at the base of a tree and rests her head against the trunk. The atmosphere feels heavy on this planet, as if it's endlessly striving to pull her into its core. Her body aches, her stomach still churns with spasms of sickness from the tranquiliser, and she's so damned tired she can barely think for want of sleep.

But even with her eyes closed, she can feel the weight of Kylo's stare. "Sit down." Picking up a handful of well-rotted leaves, she slogs them in his direction before cracking open an eyelid to see if they hit their mark.

"We should find water. Food. Shelter. And then rest." He counters, ignoring the fragile fluttering skeleton leaves that cling to the edges of his cape. Rey can tell he's doing his best to maintain a neutral tone, but the weariness seeps through.

"Feel free to carry on without me," she waves at him with a lazy hand, "I'm used to going without water, food, and refuge. Rest on the other hand…"

She cracks open the other eyelid to fix him with a stare just as determined as his own. He pulls his gaze away first and makes a pretense of scanning their surroundings; lips pressing in a grim line that must surely mean he's going to leave her or throw her over his shoulder again.

But he surprises her by doing neither.

"You rest. I'll take first watch," he mutters, sliding down against a nearby tree trunk where he sprawls his legs before him, expression resolute.

For a moment Rey stares. Dark shadows ring Kylo's eyes, blending into the mottled bruising. A small part of her wonders if he was attacked before or after their captors managed to tranquilize him. The larger part of her is too bone-weary right now to care.

"Sure," she shrugs finally, closing her eyes. The words puddle into a slur. "Just gimme fifteen and I'll be good to go."

As the peace of the forest settles around them, nearby birds pick up the songs they previously abandoned. Kylo scans the canopy before returning his attention to Rey as if she's a puzzle he can't quite crack.

He wonders if she's aware of how many times he's tried to skim her thoughts while they've been walking. How many times he tested their Force Bond to try to pluck information from her head while she was unconscious. All to no avail. Either she's learnt to barrier her mind against him or the drug has affected their connection.

After three months of feeling the brush of her conscience at the peripheral of his thoughts or seeing her manifest in the midst of his cruiser before one has turned their back on the other, he's not sure whether or not the loss of that bridge is something he will mourn, should it turn out to be permanent.

"I can feel you watching me, you know," she murmurs, eyes still closed. "I thought you were watching the forest."

"I thought you were trying to sleep," he retorts, sliding his gaze away.

"I'm too nauseous for sleep. Besides, I keep thinking…" she snaps her eyes open then, to scowl at him, "if we were both knocked out with the same drug, how do you seem so impervious to it? You were favouring your arm, earlier. Now even that seems to have fixed itself."

Kylo shrugs. Unlike the self-taught Jedi before him, he's learnt to use pain as a weapon. A tool to sharpen his focus. He insulated the cramping nausea to little more than a dull ache. Pushed through the spinning dizziness. How else could he have carried her? How else could he have carried himself?

It's not the pain that wounds him. It's the powerlessness of knowing someone managed to infiltrate his ship - his ship - and take him out so effectively. It's the huge fog bank in his short-term memory that, for all his skill, he can't sift through. It's the humiliation of all these things that causes him injury. Physical pain is nothing in comparison.

"Training." He says finally. "Something I recall offering you."

Rey has nothing to say to that.

The silence that falls between them once more lasts only as long as it takes for Rey to consider Kylo's earlier revelation - now that she's had time to reflect upon it.

"So," she begins, "about buying wookies for slavery…"

The darksider groans and leans his head back against the tree trunk, eyes cast towards a sky hidden by trees. "I said it was what Hux had in mind. I never said I agreed."

"I'm sorry," Rey snorts, "which of you is the Supreme Leader again?"

"I was trying to prevent the damn wookies from becoming game for the hunters!" The words ricochet through the forest as Kylo's temper snaps, instantly silencing the nearby birdsong. He stands then, moving behind the small clearing with an offended air.

It occurs to Rey that she should've toned back the attitude; given there's a reasonable chance they'll have to camp together for the night, and it'd be best not to push their loose alliance too far least she spends her entire night awake and awaiting his revenge.

But she can't help herself. Backing down is just not her forte.

"And letting Hux get his hands on them was going to be any better?" she presses, rising to follow him. "I mean, do you really expect me to believe you've become an advocate for the welfare of wookies?"

"You know what?" Kylo swings about, eyes blazing as he faces her, "I couldn't care less what you believe. I don't have to justify anything to you."

"Of course you don't," Rey hisses, "you're the Supreme Leader now. You hold yourself accountable to no one!"

"You know, if you'd taken the damn intel and got there in time to stop the slavers from capturing them in the first place, I would never have had to try and subvert -"

"What do you mean if we'd taken the intel?" Rey's heart lurches suddenly. "How could you know of what intel we receive?"

Lips pressed into a firm line, Kylo frowns as if the answer should somehow be obvious to her. "Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is your friend," he offers finally.

For several moments they face one another in silence. Eyes shining fiercely with the righteousness of their causes.

It's in this silence that they both notice the birdsong has yet to resume. And the hollering fracas in the most distance of treetops has drawn to an abrupt halt. The stillness left in its wake is strange and plunging; as if a giant breath has been taken. And held.

Rey shivers. "Did you do that?"

"Silence all the forest animals with an innocuous wave of my hand?" Kylo snorts, "I'm not sure. Maybe you should go check the forest floor for dead creatu-"

The rumble of a craft breaks his retort.

"Get down!"

Rey finds herself being dragged into the midst of large-leaved foliage as the rumble draws closer.

"What are you doing?" she hisses, pulling herself free, "maybe it's someone who can help us?"

"Maybe," Kylo replies in a tone that implies that's the least likely scenario. "But I doubt it. In fact, I have a bad -"

"Don't say it!" Rey interrupts suddenly.

"- feeling about this." He finishes with a shrug, dark eyes turning to her in confusion at her withering glare. "What?"

She gapes, protests evaporating on her tongue. That damn innocent expression and nonchalant twist of a grin... This, she thinks suddenly, is what Ben Solo might have been like, had the fierce visage of Kylo Ren not risen to take his place.

"Nothing," she mutters, casting her gaze away. "It doesn't matter now."

The grumble of the approaching vehicle squashes any further talk, and Rey finds herself at risk of losing circulation to an arm as Kylo's hand clamps her bicep and holds her fast.

A volley of blastershots puncture the forest as approaching voices whoop in excitement.

"Those trandoshan bastards!" The deep timbre of Kylo's growl rumbles at her ear, sending a flush of warmth across her cheek and flurry of goosebumps across her skin.

"Trandoshans?" Rey repeats slowly, understanding dawning in a way that makes her stomach plummet. She swivels to face him, taking care to not give away their location with the rustle of leaves. "You think we were captured by one of their hunting parties?"

Kylo doesn't answer. Instead, a look of absolute predatory rage lights his face. Releasing her arm, he moves to step out from beneath the foliage and confront the hunters.

This time it's Rey who reaches out to lay a placating hand. "Wait, it can't be that easy. They must know who we are. They must know the risk they take in hunting us - like you said earlier, we're the strongest Force-users in the galaxy. There must be something… Something we're missing."

A muscle spasms beneath Kylo's left eye as he considers her words. She can see the effort it takes him to hold his ground and do nothing as the vehicle draws closer, and she silently wills him to stay still and let it pass.

"Fine." Kylo allows her to draw him back, cautiously creeping further into the dense foliage as the vehicle rumbles into sight. "We'll follow them. With luck, they'll lead us to a way off this planet."

"Good call," Rey exhales a long breath as she loosens her hold on his arm. It flusters her - how quick they are to reach for each other, and she folds her arms around herself, tucking her hands into her armpits to keep them from betraying her again.

Kylo crouches lower beneath the foliage, oblivious to her sudden self-consciousness. "Then we'll take them captive," he continues darkly, "and find out who the hell is behind this."

"Fantastic." Tucking herself beneath a leaf almost the size of her body, Rey thinks of the ways in which Kylo can flay open a mind to lay bare the truth of what lies within a person. It's wrong. A darkside technique, no doubt. But in this circumstance… Perhaps the lines of light and dark can blur.

Chapter References (sorry, ffnet prevents me from providing links):

Trandoshans - Renown for their hunting skills, these reptilian humanoids have had a long history with the Wookies, who they've abducted and turning loose upon their hunting grounds in the past. Jedi padawans are another exotic challenge for them.

Wasskah - The forest moon of Trandosha which serves as a hunting ground for the Trandoshan hunting guild.