Halo

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to their respective owners.

A/N-thank you very much for the kind reviews on this story. I am assuming that even though BB-8 knew about Kylo Ren in the beginning of the Force Awakens he had never seen him unmasked so wouldn't recognise him without his mask.

Chapter Three-BB-8

Kylo's brain stuttered for a moment, every part of him going on pause while he waited for his thoughts to catch up. Rey's news had completely blindsided him. He was in complete shock. The impact of the knowledge that the First Order was on Jakku had knocked every wisp of air from his lungs, and he stood there struggling to inhale, to exhale, to do anything. He saw Rey looking at him oddly as he tried to remember how to breathe, he was unable to speak, totally stunned as his frantic thoughts began to rattle around inside his skull.

"Are you okay?" Rey asked, the excitement dying in her eyes a little. "You don't look well. Maybe you should sit down."

"No." Kylo put his hand out in front of him in an attempt to ward her off.

"Rude." Rey muttered as she pulled out her flask and took a sip of the warm water inside.

Kylo's face was still as white as chalk as he tried to sort through the chaos in his mind. Since awakening he hadn't given much thought to the First Order, or that they might be looking for him as well as the Resistance pilot who he had been tracking, when their ensuing fight had made them both fall out of the sky. Kylo assumed that the other guy was dead. His X-wing had been trailing smoke when he had last fired on him. It was wholly ironic that Rey thought he was actually the downed hero of the Resistance instead of the enemy. He couldn't deny the rush of pleasure that consumed him when she looked at him like he was some kind of hero.

"Ben, what are you going to do? It's pretty remote out here but it won't be long before the First Order casts their net wider and focuses on this part of the desert." Rey's voice startled him out of his introspection. He looked down at her, his eyes widening slightly at her closeness. Her scent was intoxicating; she smelt heavenly, like fresh-scented spring flowers. Gods, what was wrong with him? Her scent was like a drug to him, he couldn't get enough of it or her. What was this scavenger doing to him? "Ben?" She said, snapping her fingers in front of his face to gain his attention.

Kylo was still in a complete daze. He didn't feel able to string a coherent sentence together in case he embarrassed himself. "I don't know." He muttered.

"You really are still out of it." Rey sighed as she peered up at his face. "You look like you're going to be sick."

Sick? Kylo grasped onto that word and ran with it. "I do feel lightheaded." He admitted. It wasn't a total lie. He was feeling giddy, but refrained from telling her she was the cause.

"Well you need to pull yourself together." Rey was showing little sympathy, much to his chagrin. "You need to figure out what you're going to do. Is there a way you can get in touch with your comrades?"

"The First Order?" Kylo gingerly stroked his aching temples. He had no idea of what he was saying.

"No, the Resistance." Rey said in exasperation.

Kylo shook his head to try and clear it of the fragmented memories that hovered on the edges of his consciousness. "I can't contact anyone. My comms system was destroyed when I crashed."

"Oh." Rey was crestfallen. She remained mute for a few minutes as she mulled over their options. "If anyone from the First Order sees you, then you'll be captured right away. You're still recovering from your fever and I hate to break it to you, but you look completely wrecked. I doubt you could put up much of a fight if you were forced to defend yourself."

Kylo was insulted by her blunt assessment of his fighting skills. "You don't know what I'm capable of!"

"Touchy much!" Rey scoffed. "You can hardly stand. You're shaking."

Kylo glowered at her, hating that she was right. He was weak, still confused by everything that had happened to him since he crashed. He didn't know why he was so intent on hiding his true identity from the scavenger. She was no one special. He was just feeling grateful that she had taken care of him. That was all.

"Liar." His inner voice taunted him. He unintentionally scowled in Rey's direction when this traitorous thought popped into his head. Offended, she scowled right back.

"Don't glare at me!" She snapped. "If you don't need my help, then just say so."

Words left Kylo. He stared into her lovely hazel eyes burning with indignation, and his heart fell silent.

"Well say something!" Rey demanded.

Kylo couldn't will his lips to move. As if stuck underwater, everything was slow and warbled as Rey's eyes desperately searched his…waiting. He knew he had to say something! He searched his mind for something impressive to say, but to his surprise his heart answered for him. "You fascinate me." He blurted out.

It was hard to tell whose face was more crimson afterwards. Kylo wished he could grab the words and stuff them back into his mouth. He felt like a complete fool. Kylo could only conclude that his recent fever was causing him to suffer from some sort of verbal diarrhoea.

Rey cleared her throat awkwardly as she suddenly looked everywhere but at him. "Your only option is to find a ship and get off world." She suggested.

"Now why didn't I think of that!" Kylo exclaimed sarcastically. He turned in a slow circle looking at the undulating sand all around him. "Oh, look, there's a good one. I'll take that." He continued, waving his hand at the empty air.

Rey's cheeks flushed again in annoyance. "You really are an unpleasant man with a planet sized ego to match. I'm beginning to think I should just hand you over to the First Order right now."

"Not all of them would thank you." Kylo muttered darkly as he pictured Hux's- his onetime rival-weaselly face staring at him in disdain. He certainly wouldn't be pleased by his return. In fact, he was probably celebrating that he was still missing, secretly hoping that he was dead. Although his master would know different. Snoke would be able to tell through the Force that he was still alive and breathing. Thinking of Snoke made Kylo feel ill. He paled significantly as the blood rushed out of his body. He swayed on his feet, and was only saved from fainting completely, because Rey took pity on him and acted as his crutch.

"Here drink this." Rey offered him her flask of water.

Kylo thanked her, his dark eyes showing how sorry he was. Rey, mollified by his change in demeanour, nodded her acceptance. "Your mood swings are giving me whiplash."

"You're not the first to tell me that." Kylo sighed as he held the flask to his lips and let the warm water spill into his opened mouth.

"I bet." Rey muttered as she quickly snatched the flask back before he drank all of the contents. "What I was going to say-before you decided to unleash your sarcasm on me-is that I can find you a ship. Plutt's yard is full of them."

Kylo regarded her thoughtfully. "How willing is this Plutt to negotiate?" He asked warily.

"There is no negotiating with Plutt." Rey informed him bitterly. "He would only swindle you. No, if you want a ship, then we're going to have to steal one."

"I like the sound of that."

"I thought you might." Rey said sourly as she hitched the flask back onto her belt and walked toward her speeder.

Wind stirred up the wispy sand as Rey, with Kylo propped up behind her, flew across the sand on her speeder. The sun's never-ending rays beat down on them mercilessly. Salty sweat rolled off Kylo's brow and stung his eyes. His black clothing was overwhelmingly hot and sticky. The stiff, dry desert breeze blew sand into his eyes and made his thick black hair stiff with salt. HIs tongue felt as if was coated in fur and his lips were chapped and dry. He longed for crystal, cold water to quench his raging thirst. He didn't know how Rey managed to stand living on this dry and dusty planet. Why did she stay? If she was so willing to help him steal a ship so he could escape, he didn't understand why she hadn't done the same for herself. She was clearly a clever and resourceful young woman, so why remain eking out a miserable existence on Jakku when she could go anywhere.

Suddenly the speeder drew to an abrupt halt. Feeling disorientated, Kylo watched dazedly as Rey slid off the speeder and onto the sand. She pulled her goggles up and placed them on top of her head as she raised her hand to shield her eyes against the sun's harsh glare. Kylo had no idea what had caught her attention, his head was still spinning. He was about to ask her what was wrong, when he saw her snatch up her quarterstaff, and stride off into the distance wearing an angry expression.

"What the hell!" Kylo groaned as he slid off the back of the speeder and attempted to follow her quicker strides. He cursed his weak body as he tried to catch up to her. Rey was right, he would be useless in a fight. He was barely recovered from his illness and needed food to build up his strength. Thinking of food made his stomach rumble in protest.

Now he had a clearer view in front of him Kylo could see Rey confronting a Teedo, who sat astride one of their lumbering luggabeasts. In order to protect themselves against Jakku's heat, Teedos wore protective wrappings that covered much of their bodies. They made no distinction between individuals, and none had names, with each being known simply as Teedo. Kylo couldn't hear what words were being exchanged, but by Rey's angry stance it was clear that this creature had pissed her off in some way. He sighed wearily as he walked the rest of the way to join her.

It took him a couple of extra minutes to reach Rey. When he did, she had already knocked the unfortunate Teedo out with an impressive swipe of her quarterstaff. She was kneeling in the sand now, cutting an astromech droid out of one of Teedo's nets.

"What are you doing?" Kylo called out when he reached her. "Did the Teedo steal this droid from you or something?"

"He stole it, but not from me." Rey answered him breathlessly. She cut through the last strings and freed the droid. The little droid chirped gratefully. It had a dome head, similar to that of R2 series astromech droids, with the bulk of its body made up of a ball on which the droid's head rolled. It was mostly white, with some silver and orange on its body, as well as a black photoreceptor. "What's your name?" Rey asked it politely.

The little droid whirred and beeped at her agitatedly. Rey listened carefully as it revealed its name. "Hello, BB-8. My name's Rey." She responded with a smile.

"Rey, we really haven't got time for this. We need to get moving." Kylo said impatiently. He couldn't understand why she would waste time on a strange little droid. She really was too compassionate for her own good. Rey ignored him as she continued to converse with the droid. Kylo folded his arms across his broad chest and concentrated on trying not to faint. The sun was beating down on his head and making it spin again.

"Oh, you are in luck, BB-8." Rey gushed loudly, drawing Kylo's attention back to them. "He's with the Resistance. He can help." She turned around and pointed in his direction.

The little astromech beeped excitedly as it rolled in his direction across the soft sand. In its fervour the droid smacked right into Kylo's left leg, causing him to topple over. He landed heavily on his butt, much to Rey's amusement and his mortification.

A/N-thanks for reading!