"I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I am your worst dream come true. I am everything you ever were afraid of!"
—Stephen King "It"
Rey's arm was on fire.
With each drag of the rope, it felt like her skin frayed against the carpet floor as they tugged her limp body like a piece of scrap metal.
Bleary-eyed, she blinked at the pendant lights above her, trailing her gaze down the gothic red wallpaper. She'd not seen this part of the brothel before.
"It will be easier this way," Phasma had whispered into her ear, as a sharp-jab had stung her left arm. Rey had tried to fight the sleep that followed as they tied her up, but now there were blanks in her memory… the hit, her fall, hands grasping, body dragging, whispers, red walls, black doors.
She jerked her head against the heaviness, but her body wasn't responding right. Her tongue felt like a foreign object in her mouth; large and tingly. The coppery taste of blood pooling there.
She had bitten one of them; the blonde, she thought, Seth . She remembered now, digging her fangs into his shoulder as hard as she could. He had smacked her around the head then finished with one clean punch to the cheek. Rey tried to open and close her mouth, ascertaining whether he had broken it. She could move it, albeit painfully.
As they dragged her through Snoke's private corridor, she should have felt terrified, but the drugs had dulled her senses and there was a weightlessness to her emotions. Rationally, her brain was screaming fight, fight! but mentally, she was just confused… curious even.
"Do we watch?" a gravelly voice hissed from behind.
"No." Phasma's tone was sharp and unforgiving.
Watch what? A chill crept down her spine and all the way to her toes. The drugs weren't infallible after all. She only hoped they would be enough.
"That's a shame," the other man hissed. "I've always wanted to see him do one."
"Be thankful for that," Phasma hissed.
Something about the hollowness of her voice stirred a sense of panic, sharp as a steel-bladed knife slicing through her.
Rey kicked and thrashed, slurring Ben's name in something between a muffled sob and a whisper, but they ignored her.
There was a creak ahead and a door. They hauled her up by her armpits, arms hanging limp as the world around her erupted into laughter.
"Young, Rey... " Snoke's sing-song voice poised as if capturing the grandeur of the moment. "Welcome."
"Where is she?" Ben's voice rumbled like a landslide ready to tear trees and rocks up in its path.
He'd barely made it through the door of his parent's home before he'd felt a bone-chill dread that had made him run into the foyer, searching every room.
Poe rushed after him. "I told you, she got a tip about the USB drive and went back for it."
"How the fuck could you let her go?"
"Mate, she's got Finn and Dom with her. It was an in and out job."
Poe tried to sound calm, hiding behind that half-arsed smile, but Ben could feel it. He could see the uncertainty in his eyes, the skittish way he couldn't stop watching the clock.
He'd fucked up, and he knew it.
"How long?"
Poe wouldn't look at him and Ben felt his insides fill with dread. "They left about 30 minutes after you did."
Too long.
"I'm sure—"
Ben raised a single finger up at him, glaring. With the other hand, he punched in the brothel's number so quickly that half of them were wrong. He tried again, swearing until he heard the phone ring.
The receiver clicked.
"Where's Rey? Did she come in tonight?"
There was a pause, and Ben's hand tightened around the phone.
"Phasma—"
"She had a booking."
"Where the fuck is she?"
"I booked in her with Hux at six."
"Is she still with him?" Ben's stomach tied in knots. "Answer the fucking question!"
"I warned you not to bring her back …"
Phasma went quiet until all Ben could hear was the sound of her breathing, and, at last, "You know where she is."
Snoke .
He should never have left her there… "Am I too late?"
Footsteps . Muffled, like she was covering the phone with her hand and every microsecond was an eternity.
"Phasma…" he croaked, unable to breathe. "Give me something."
"I don't know."
The line went dead.
"What's happening? Is she okay?"
"Snoke has her," Ben said, his hand now clutching to the chair they shared only hours before. He spread his fingers against the back, still feeling the heat of her body in his memory.
Ben looked up again at Poe. He tried not to care about the tears cutting down his face, the way he could feel his tics pulling beneath his eye, or even the way his words felt like they had been crushed into his chest.
"He'll kill her, Poe… if he hasn't already."
Where was she?
Rey rocked her body back and forth, rallying against the ropes that strangled her whole body like a noose. Something shifted beneath her, sticking to her sweaty legs. It stunk of heavy plastic that had been stored away.
She tried to remember… to grasp hold of thoughts and memories that were too fast for her sluggish mind to catch. They sprinted past, flashes of light and sound; the USB drive… had she gotten it out?… A crack to her skull, falling, falling, falling.
Dark shadows shifted against lighter ones, floorboards squeaked, someone exhaled, another was rushing around, closing windows and curtains.
"Who's fucking bright idea was it to drug her?"
No one answered.
"Get up!" the gravelly voice ordered.
Rey blinked beneath her blindfold; compelled to follow the order, she rolled and rocked on the ground trying to force her body to rise. The drugs had turned her bones to stone. So heavy .
"Get up, I said!"
Get up, get up, the voice in her head pleaded.
Rey pushed on her hands and knees to no avail. Part of her mind was waking, the emotion crept into her sleeping mind. Fear.
She would die here.
Liquid flooded her face, so cold it burned. Petrol. She gasped and kicked, trying to push herself away from where it was pooling in the plastic beneath her.
There was a low rumble of laughter and the blindfold was ripped away. This was not one of the boudoirs; the walls were bone-white, a single exposed globe hung from the ceiling and to the right of it a pulley and rope. Rey squinted, trying to understand what she was seeing when Snoke's pock-marked face bent down to face her.
"There now. That did it. Look!" He turned to face Phasma lingering against the back wall. Snoke pointed at Rey's face. "Look at those beautiful, brown eyes."
Phasma nodded. Her face giving nothing away.
"Such a pretty face," he swept a lingering gaze across the rest of her body. "All of it, so pretty, So—" he paused, searching for the word, " tiny , like I could just snap your bones."
He held a hand out before her eyes and snapped his fingers with a sharp click.
"Snap!" She flinched, every second the drugs felt like they were slipping away.
Snoke rested his finger just below her mouth, dragging it down her neck, between her breasts, and stopping between her legs and Rey stopped breathing.
"What I want to know is was he good to you, Rey?" he whispered. "Did he make you come like he did on your first night together?"
Not like this. Get up!
Hatred poured through her veins, giving Rey a surge of strength to her weak muscles. She rolled onto her stomach, forcing her knees beneath her and then rolling back on the balls of her feet until she was standing, shakily.
Memories were growing sharper; the camera, the night Snoke had watched her—them. The way he had used it against Ben.
"Touch me again and I'll break your neck." Her voice was hoarse with the sting of petrol fumes, but every muscle in her body tensed.
"There she is." Snoke's gold tooth flashed behind his smile. "This is the Rey I like. That fiery spit of hope. The hunger to be free. You still think you can get away, don't you?"
Rey took in her surroundings; Snoke, Phasma, the dickhead who had punched her earlier… No Hux. Three people, at least one of them trained in martial arts.
What was he hiding? On the outside, he looked old, frail almost, but there was something powerful about his size, and the way he held himself; she shouldn't underestimate him.
There were too many for her to take in her current state. She needed help, but the thought of crying out for help, exposing weakness and fear to Snoke… Rey clenched her teeth in resolve.
She would do this alone.
"Call the cops," Ben barked at Poe, keeping his eyes on the road ahead as he drove, weaving in and out of traffic, crossing the midline, shouts and horns blaring at them as they passed.
He didn't give a shit.
"Call the cops, I said."
"Are you sure you want that kind of—" Poe grappled for the word, " Exposure? "
"I don't care. If Snoke and the knights have Rey, then we will need backup. I need the police to at least see what he is capable of—" the words strangled in his throat and he tried to blot out the images of what he had seen Snoke do to people who had crossed him in the past.
He'd never seen it , but he'd witnessed the aftermath; the blood, the bodies, the way he'd split them from head to toe. Nothing but the cruellest punishment for those that betrayed or deserted him.
That punishment should have been waiting for him— not Rey.
His vision blurred. "Fuck!"
"We'll get to her, mate," Poe said softly. "I'm sure she's fine."
Ben swerved around a lorry, tyres screeching and skidding against the wet bitumen, then through a red light. the sound of sirens blared behind them, and his face flashed in blue and red in the rear-view mirror.
Poe looked back. "They want you to pull over."
Ben glared at him and the engine revved as he floored the accelerator.
"We could just pull over and explain… "
Ben shook his head, changing gears to maintain maximum speed. "They're coming with us."
Rey's screams echoed through the corridors of the brothel, or at least, that's what it felt like was happening when the electrified darts hurtled into her skin, shooting over fifty thousand volts through her system. They had released her for this part, hoisting her up between two masked figures who clamped her arms. Her body went rigid with searing pain, losing all motor control as electricity surged through her.
She couldn't speak, or even cry out. There was no control, or sound, just the low zapping of the tasers and when at last it stopped, she dropped like a dead weight onto the cold plastic sheet.
A body bag, she had realised by now.
Tears stung her eyes as she forced herself up on her elbows, gasping before the next one.
This would not be the way she would die, moments before, more masked figures wheeled in a chair, the seat of it topped with a razor-like pyramid, positioning it beneath the pulley-system.
"Do you like that?" Snoke asked, noticing the way Rey's eyes had been glued to the sight of the torture device. "That's for later. First..." Snoke searched beneath his robe; handling his belt, she heard him unfasten it and saw the pants loosen.
She got on her feet, her body shattering with violent tremors as she did. Though her heart felt like it had been cut in half, and her back still burned from the two hooks that out gouged her skin with electricity, she stood tall, her jaw set.
She shook her head, knowing that she would die before she would let him touch her.
"And after, I will kill you with the cruellest stroke."
"No."
Snoke took a long stride forward when there was a rushed knock at the door.
Rey froze, every inch of her body was in high alert.
"What is it?" Snoke snapped.
The door remained closed, but whoever was on the other side kept talking. "Hux is in position. The tracker shows he's less than a minute away."
With a surge of strength, Rey turned and kicked at the closest knight, a round-house kick to his knee and he collapsed with a yelp, while the blond-haired man rushed at her, aiming another blow at her head. She blocked the hit and spun away from him, far enough to deliver a jump kick to his abdomen, but he was faster, grabbing her ankle and twisting it so she slammed onto the ground.
Rey tried to jump up, but someone had jumped on her back, pulling her hair back with one hand, the other holding a knife against her neck.
She could smell Phasma's perfume as her low voice hissed, "Stay where you are."
Rey struggled beneath her, but it was useless, Phasma's legs locked around her arms and thighs, while she kept Rey's neck pulled back towards the ceiling, the knife blade, forming a paper-like cut at her throat.
Snoke had repositioned himself by the window, curtains open, waiting. Rey could see points of headlights reflecting in his eyes moments before the sound of tyres, someone was speeding through the street.
Rey felt a surge of relief, knowing in her heart that it was Ben. She would be safe now, everything would—there was a blood-curdling screech, like someone had tried to brake and then the whole building rumbled with an explosion. A ball of flame flashed past the window as the impact of the bomb ruptured the glass. Shards shot inside the room, crashing like a shower of razors around her body.
"No!" Rey cried out, her eyes filling with tears, barely able to breathe between the sobs that heaved from her chest and the crushing point of Phasma's knife.
Slowly, Snoke shook his head, and with a dash of sadness in his eyes, he turned to Rey.
"I'm afraid, for you, all is lost."
The glint of two silver panels reflected by the alleyway's street light. Ben studied them at speed, there were lines of wires on either side and with blood-chilling certainty, he knew what he was looking at.
His foot slammed on the brake pedal, as the air around them smoked with burning rubber and tyres screaming with an ear-splitting cry.
There was no time for words; for Ben, actions had always come faster. In a split second, he unlocked his and Poe's seat belt, forcing the side door open so hard sparks flew where it skimmed the side of a building.
"Get out!" he screamed.
Ben threw himself out of the car, tucking and rolling away only to watch red lights streak past. The sound was deafening; a blast wave of energy pushed him back, fragments of the Upsilon exploding in a hungry fireball as radiant heat tore through his body and then sucked away like a tsunami retreating.
He stumbled forward, coughing. Pain seared down his body, on the areas of exposed skin on his hands and face. His hands had taken the brunt of it, instinct had covered his face, the rest of his body was at least covered.
In the distance, what was once his Upsillion was burning, the twisted stench of a metal and rubber sending black plumes of smoke into the atmosphere.
"Poe!" he choked, unable to hear much above the ringing in his ears. "Poe!"
He searched through laneway, seeking for any sign that Poe had jumped free. On the far side of the alley, a body was lying still against the wall. Scrambling in the darkness, he crawled over to the body, checking for a heartbeat.
Poe groaned, his face bloody, a shard of white bone sticking out from his ankle.
"You'll be okay here. Help is coming."
Poe coughed, dazed. "What the hell happened—"
"I have to go."
Without looking back, Ben bolted to the brothel. There was blood and dirt in his mouth, his wrist stung with what felt like a fracture and his left knee felt like he had jarred it. None of that mattered; he pushed through the pain, darting through shadows, silent and deadly just like Snoke had taught him, trying to map out a way to sneak into one of the windows.
The ringing in his ears began to fade, just enough to hear her screaming.
Rey!
His eyes darted along the walls to the brothel, searching for any visual on her and every scream tore through his heart. There was time for stealth and patience, he was never any good at either. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red hair and he charged at it, nostrils flaring, rage spiking his body as he lunged at Hux, smashing his head against the pavement. Hux blinked at him blearily, once, twice, and scowled before passing out cold on the cement.
The shrill cries ceased. The crackling and low roar of fire consuming the Upsillion took its place.
Ben's face drained ashen white as his clammy hands jerked while they scoured through Hux's bag, searching for a weapon, anything , he could use.
Suddenly, footsteps scraped on the pavement behind him, heavy, steel-capped boots, and iron bars grazing against the ground. Intimidation, pack-like hunting. He had once led them, and now he was the hunted.
With a resolved nod, he turned around long enough to see the Knights of Ren staring down at him.
Six against one.
He dragged his body up to stand, one leg hanging limp, teetering behind him, Hands at the ready, he braced his chest and abdomen for impact.
"Don't do it, Ren," Seth sneered.
"Then move out of my way."
There was a chuckle, a few of them exchanged nervous glances. Seth smiled, but none of them moved.
With a shrug, Ben launched at them.
It was a street fight; violent and bloody, no rules. He threw one in a chokehold, kicked another in the balls, while their hits connected more and more with his face and shoulders. In the scrap heap of arms and legs, he spotted Seth and lunged at him, pressing into his jugular, as Seth gasped and clawed his hands back to rip him off.
There were too many of them, coming at him from behind, each side of them, but he held tight to Seth because regardless of the odds, he had to win. He had to get to Rey.
An iron bar cracked across his back and he pulled back, taking Seth with him until a pair of metal prongs shot into his skin and every inch of his body was lured into a state of paralysis.
Unable to move, or scream, Seth rolled away as Hux came into view, smirking.
"That will be enough," he glowed over Ben. "It's time to take him to Snoke."
Rey couldn't stop, heaving cries rushed from her lungs as Phasma hissed at her to be quiet, digging the knife until a bead of blood trickled down her throat.
Everything was heightened; the pain, the feeling over people standing around watching her, and Ben…
Ben… Ben… Ben… Tears streamed down her face at the thought of what happened outside the windows. He had come for her, had he died doing it?
There was a rush of noise from the corridor and the door broke open, followed by a black shadow of a body collapsing onto the floor, three tasers hooked into his neck, back and legs.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr Snoke." Hux charged in, chin high and eyes glistening. "He wouldn't stop fighting."
Snoke laughed, a terrible, rumble of sound.
"He never does."
Ben groaned, spit foaming at his mouth, sweat beading down a face stained with blood and dirt.
"Ben," Rey whimpered.
At the sound of her voice, he set his jaw and searched the room until he met her eyes, both relief and fear reflecting at her. Rey froze at the sharp snapping sound a moment before the charge surged through his body, making him go rigid.
"Ben!" Rey jerked forward, impervious to Phasma yanking her head back harder.
Ben gasped between shots, his body freezing and collapsing each time.
"Rey—" he tried to speak, just as the sound of high-voltage currents cracked around them.
"Stop! You're killing him!"
They stopped, but not on Rey's command. Snoke swept down from the window as Ben tried and failed to push himself up.
"You dare come back to me?" Snoke circled Ben before turning to Rey. "Did you think he could save you? He can't even save himself!"
"Weak!" Snoke kicked him in the stomach and Ben curled over in pain. "You're nothing but a child." He kicked him again, this time in the face as Rey cried out and blood began to spill from his forehead.
Ben's eyelids flickered, and he searched for Rey's eyes. What she saw there terrified her more than anything else; the despair of knowing he had failed her, that he had tried to save her — and couldn't.
With cracked and bleeding lips, he mouthed the words, ' I'm sorry.'
She shook her head to stop him from believing Snoke's lies.
He'd done nothing but save her.
It was time somebody saved him.
Snoke stepped away, wiping his hands of the body at his feet. "Again."
Electricity crackled through the air again and Ben went still, the veins popping out of his temples. Despite the screaming in her heart, Rey darted a side-glance at Phasma, who was preoccupied watching the spectacle. If she could turn head enough, maybe she could bite her…
Phasma snapped her gaze back to Rey as if sensing a plan and for a beat, the two women stared at each other. No words were exchanged and their expressions remained the same, like lionesses fighting over a kill… but beneath it all there was a flicker of concern behind Phasma's steel-hard stare, a softening of the brow, lips parting, bordering on a frown, her shoulders slumped and at once Rey understood.
You don't want this.
Rey pressed against the knife gently, Phasma still held it firm against her, but her wrist had loosened like she'd lost the will behind it.
You're a prisoner, like me. Trapped, like Ben.
She pushed forward against the blade again, and like before it remained firm, but moved with Rey. Could she really trust this woman?
The knights stopped their attack, pausing long enough to make sure Ben had a moment to strangle out a pained groan.
Rey's heart was trapped in a vice as she watched him weakly push up on his hands, but they were shaking so hard there was no strength in them.
Snoke's laughter filled the room, but when he turned to face Rey, his laugh faltered. She was standing, the pearl-handled knife in her hands, gaze targeted him with deep concentration. Snoke gaped a moment before she released the blade. Silent and strong, it speared into his neck.
Rey stood on the spot, unable to move as blood spilled down either side of the wound as he stumbled forward, hands searching for the knife speering his throat. Snoke's fingers found the hilt and pulled it from his neck and it dropped to the floor in a loud clang.
Snoke stared at her; confused, angry… impressed, before collapsing to the ground in a heap of gold satin stained with the colour of crimson and rust.
In the silence that followed, the growing sounds of sirens came closer. In a rush of footsteps, Rey heard the knights flee from the scene, while Phasma came and sat over Snoke, stroking his lifeless body.
Rey stared at the knife, lying in a pool of blood. She struggled to breathe, feeling the effects of the drugs once more, she swayed as she bent over and took the knife in her hands, stomach-churning, she looked back at Ben, but he was already there, a trembling hand pressing gently on her shoulder.
"Rey—"
"I—I've never killed somebody before," Rey said hoarsely, the reality of what had passed dawning on her through the drug-infused haze. She held the knife close to her chest.
"It was what he deserved," Phasma spat. Her bitter words were harsh in contrast to the soft way she pressed her hands on Snoke's corpse. Their relationship must have been so tangled with love and hate. She could understand that. We cling to what we know.
"Rey," he whispered again
"I've killed him," she whispered, her voice trembling in a way that made her fear that she was about to fall into a full-blown panic.
"Come away, my love." Ben pulled her back. "We're safe now."
Outside, the source if the sirens had pulled into the street below. There were voices over the loudspeaker, she couldn't make them out. They spoke quickly, red and blue bled across the walls.
The police , her thoughts were catching up with her. The police were here—and she had killed the leader of the First Order.
"Ben, what have I done?" He pulled her into his arms, and she felt consumed by his hold, every part of him closing in around her. Warm lips pressed kisses onto her forehead, kissing away the tears on her cheeks.
"Give me the knife," he whispered, and she felt his fingers curl around her own, forcing them to release. She hesitated, the ancient part of her brain unable to shake the threat.
"Trust me, sweetheart."
She looked up into his face, covered in sweat and dried blood. Her Ben . "You came back for me."
"I'll always come back for you."
With a tearful smile, she released the knife, and he held it away from her, while his left arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her away from the blood-stained room.
They made their way through the brothel for the last time, past the room they had first made love, down the stairs he had once carried her up, and into the foyer where she had first learned about Kylo Ren, the client who didn't want to be hugged or kissed.
Rey clutched to Ben's arm, tightly wound around her like he never wanted to let go.
"We got the drive," Rey whispered as they descended the steps. "Dom's removing all the references to you as we speak."
He stiffened a little in her hold, staring straight ahead, but kept on walking.
"You're free, Ben."
This time he looked down at her, eyes glistening. "Is that why you came back?"
She smiled and shrugged and for a fleeting moment, it was like the sun had risen across his face, two dimples, bright teeth showing behind an irrepressible smile.
"I'll always come back for you too, you know." Her fingers reached up to his face, gently tracing her thumb across his cheek.
Ben looked at her with wonder, his gaze dancing over her face, seeming to take in every part of her, and in his eyes, she understood that no one had ever come back for him.
"If you're quite finished," Phasma huffed. "There are other things to worry about."
There was another order over the loudspeaker as they continued, the foyer's scarlet walls danced with a luminous red that turned into a purple as blue light streaked through gaps in the curtain.
Rey hesitated, pulling back from the door, away from the lights and the voices bleating over the loudspeakers, ordering them to come out with their hands up.
"What's going to happen to me?" she asked, almost childlike, still feeling like she was detached from the situation, floating above it somehow..
Ben's expression was so tender that it was almost enough to phase out Phasma's loud scoff from behind them.
"You just killed one of the most high-profile CEOs in the country. As far as the public knows, he's a fucking saint. What do you think will happen?"
Rey barely noticed Ben's glare back at her, his hair tickled her face as he leant down and whispered into her ear, "I'm with you."
They stood before the door of Crimson Lane and Rey tried to find strength in Ben's arms.
"We're coming out! Don't shoot." Ben shouted at the top of his lungs, and with a sudden kick, the door flung open.
Floodlights hit their faces and Rey squeezed her eyes closed at the intensity, but at that moment, something had changed…
For a second she was thrust forward and pulled back into a firm hold, the familiar blade was back against her throat and instinctually she clawed at the strong arms that had locked against her. Sheer panic overtook her until she heard his voice close behind her.
"Stay back!" Ben shouted. "Stand back or she's dead."
He carried her forward in his hold, and Rey's shock fled her as she realised what was happening.
Before them there was a line of officers, barricaded behind car doors, guns pointed at them.
"No!" she shouted at him, tears streaming down her face. "What are you doing?"
"What I should have done a long time ago." He pulled her in close to him, his vice-lock around her chest the only affection he could leave her with.
"Put down your weapon," the voice blared over the loudspeaker. "Put down your weapon or we will be forced to shoot."
"My name is Kylo Ren. And if you have any idea who I am, you will know that I won't hesitate to slit her throat," he screamed at them, but they didn't move, looking to their superior.
"Come on!" he screamed, drowning out Rey's whimpering pleads for him to stop. "I've just slit Alastair Snoke's neck, you think I'm going to stop there?"
For a moment, the officers hesitated, as one by one, they lowered their weapons.
She felt Ben breathe a sigh of relief behind her.
"I love you," he whispered and then she was thrown out of his hold, falling to the ground, her head smacking against the ground. She blinked, stunned for a moment, feeling like someone had sledgehammered her head. Looking back, the last thing she saw was Ben drop to his knees with his hands behind his head, staring right at her, then a crowd of officers dressed in navy swarmed over him, throwing him against the ground.
"We got male in a critical condition here," another shouted from somewhere inside. "Get the ambulance!"
Rey could barely take in what was going on around her; there were four men on top of Ben, forcing his head to the ground.
"Rey, Rey!" Finn shouted, bursting through the crowd and pulling her into his lap. "I thought you were with Dom."
"Snoke," Rey croaked.
Almost on cue, a stretcher came out, and the limp, pale body of Alastair Snoke brushed past her, sliding the stretcher to an ambulance,
"I'll take him here," a familiar voice herded them over to the ambulance. Rey followed the sound of the voice and saw Phasma dressed in white, directing the crew to load Snoke into the ambulance.
"Stop—" Rey tried to speak, but she could barely hear her own voice above the commotion.
As the doors closed, Phasma looked back at her with a defiant wink, before she slammed the doors shut and the van sped away.
"Phasma!" Rey cried, but at once she began to dry heave, the concoction petrol, shock and drugs overcoming her system. "Phasma…" she croaked again, but consciousness was slipping away from her and even when she heard Ben's shouting her name, she couldn't open her eyes any more.
[ENDS]
Notes:
Ugh. I swore I would have this finished by TROS. I'm so sorry about the 44-day wait between chapters. Life got more than a little crazy, I went from having no hours out work to tripling my work hours and starting two new businesses while trying to fit in being a mum.
Love my Reylo fam and that we have come so far together. Let the post-TROS fics rise (see what I did there), you can bet, I'll be writing some canon. And I may or may not have drafted out a sexy one-shot tonight.
Happy new year dear friends.