Ben followed Rose down the hall and watched her fling all of the strength in her tiny frame into throwing open the metal doors leading into the waiting room of the medical bay. He was several strides behind her, and heard her scream for help.
He turned, pushing the door open with his back, and angled carefully so nothing would touch Rey as he went inside.
The wing stilled to a halt.
He looked up, through the mess of ebony hair that hung in his eyes, to several people, patients and staff alike, staring at him, faces pale with dread.
Then, every mind started screaming at him.
Kylo Ren!
What has he done to her?
He'll kill us all!
How did he get in here?
He stood there, panting, as he looked around the room with pleading eyes.
Rose was at the front desk, trying to talk to a staff member but they weren't listening, just staring over her in terror.
Rey's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she went limp in his arms.
"No!" He growled, shaking her awake. She blinked, and looked up at him. "Please, just stay with me." He begged.
A woman in green scrubs ran around the desk. "What's going on?" She asked.
"She's six weeks pregnant." He panted. "She's throwing up blood."
She immediately turned and ran to the door leading to the emergency wing. "Bring her back." She scanned her badge and the door slid open with a beep.
Ben obeyed, following her to a paper covered bed that crinkled when he carefully laid Rey on it.
"How long has this been going on?" The woman asked, taking her stethoscope from around the back of her neck.
"She's been vomiting constantly for about a week." He told her, watching as she checked Rey's pulse. "And, she vomited blood now, just a few minutes ago."
The Bond growled, sending shivers down his spine. He looked to Rey, prepared to snatch her up if she was vomiting but she wasn't.
She was looking up at him, and her vacant eyes unfocused.
His blood ran cold.
"Rey?" He called, his eye brows pulled together.
The pain, her pain in his stomach, his head, his chest, faded and he reached out to her mind with his, finding nothing but the light years between them.
"Rey." He said again, his voice cracking, as she blurred from his vision.
He blinked, and found the grey walls of his bedroom.
It took him a moment to realize what happened. The Bond had pushed him out? He reached out to her, to her mind, to their Bond, to her light, to anything, but found nothing but his darkness, and he knew he hadn't been pushed out.
The Bond had severed.
No. He refused to believe that. She had to be there, she had to be.
He reached out again, closing his eyes as he concentrated. Please, Rey, please. He begged, searching for her. Please.
But, he couldn't find her. And, for the first time since he'd first laid eyes on her, he was alone.
She's gone.
He screamed, sending his fist through the nearest thing to him, and beat whatever it was to splinters. He picked up the chair matching his now ruined desk and flung it across the room, unable to see where it went for the water in his eyes.
He reached out again in desperation, falling to his knees when he found the same dark nothingness, and sobbed, sinking to the floor.
For a while, he wasn't sure how long, he saw nothing, felt nothing but the sobs that shook him, heard nothing but his own broken agony echoing off the walls.
And then, a spark.
He gasped, looking up, waiting before he let himself believe it was her.
Another spark, and then another before he reached out, and let out a sign of relief when he found her.
She wasn't gone. She was so weak the Force was pulling everything in in a last ditch effort to save her. Including their Bond.
He closed his eyes, and let his head fall back, allowing himself a moment, relief allowing him to take several deep breaths before he stood up and walked out of his room.
General Hux stared at a holographic map of the Outerbanks when several men around him snapped to attention, a show of respect for someone who outranked him, and there was only one man who did.
The hair on the back of his neck rose, as he heard Kylo Ren's heavy footsteps behind him. "Supreme Leader." He said, turning. "It's been a full week since you've graced us with your presence."
Ren ignored him entirely, not even looking up as he walked to the door that led to the hanger.
"What are you-?" Hux stopped, watching Ren walk by his own ship, and to an ordinary TIE Fighter that was awaiting authorization to start up. He disconnected the tethers, and climbed inside.
"Sir, should we-" A tropper started to ask but Hux held up a hand, silencing him. He heard Ren punch something in the cockpit of the Fighter, a breaking noise, a snap, then watched him as he stood up and dropped something onto the hanger floor. The engine hummed to life.
"Stop him!" Hux screamed, dropping what was in his hands as he ran forward.
The blast of the engines as they went into lightspeed threw him onto his back. He scrambled to his feet. "Follow him!" He commanded, shaking with rage. He bent down, and picked up what Ren had dropped.
"The tracking system." A trooper commented.
"Can we find him without it?" Hux demanded, though he already knew the answer.
"No, Sir."
Hux sneered, balling his fist around the tracker and threw it to the floor. "Stay on the scanners! Alert me the moment a TIE fighter is mentioned!"
"Yes, sir." The trooper said.
"General?" Lieutenant Connix called, urgently.
Leia looked over her shoulder at the younger woman, just as Rose burst into her office, panting.
"Rose?" Leia said, her focus going to her. "What is it?"
"It's Rey." Rose told her. "She's in the medical bay."
Leia stood up, a took a step forward.
"General." Connix called again, her voice raised several octives, stopping her.
And an energy washed over her. An energy she'd recognise anywhere. Ben. And, she knew why Connix looked so worried. He's here.
"We have a land request from a First Order TIE Fighter." Connix told her. "Piloted by Kylo Ren."
"He's not requesting." Leia said, a small smile turning her lips up at the corners. She looked at the Lieutenant. "Stand down." She commanded, her voice low, but heard in every corner of the room. Everyone stopped to stare up at her in shock.
When no one moved to give her order, she walked to the intercom and pressed the button. "Stand down." She said calmly. "Complete radio silence until I say otherwise. Do not engage. I repeat: Do. Not. Engage." And walked out of the room.
Poe ran up to her, skidding to a stop a few feet away. "What was that about?" He demanded. and Leia smiled, looking up. Poe followed her gaze, his jaw falling open as he watched a TIE fighter decend and land.
"Leia," Poe gasped, as Kylo Ren climbed out of the cockpit.
"Stand down." She said again, watching her son stalk toward her.