A long couple days dragged on and on. Rey was not used to extended space travel confined to a small transport ship. She yearned for open space, and felt boxed in by the narrow walls which protected the occupants from the vacuum of the galaxy. Claustrophobia was not something she had ever experienced before, yet now she felt stifled. Leia was always busy trying to organise their next moves. Constant chatter between her and her other commanders, settled into a steady background murmur. Rey closed her eyes and tried to imagine that instead of voices she heard leaves whispering in the wind. Her memories of the Tuerto System were ingrained in her mind, and if she focussed, she could recall them with a startling clarity.

Instead of the vast emptiness of space, she imagined herself sitting cross legged on the soft sand by the lake. She turned her face upwards to feel the sun warming the skin on her face. She inhaled deeply and replaced the stale recycled air with the fresh breeze which rippled the surface of the water. A gentle smile crossed her face, she could not allow her feelings of rejection to colour these memories. She desperately held onto their beauty. Sitting by the lake she had been certain that it would last forever. But one thing she could not recreate, was his presence. Yet the more she longed for him, the more tinged with sadness and pain the landscape of her memory became. So she sighed, and resigned herself to her solitude.

Across the galaxy, he felt the sun of her memories warm his face. He wanted to remove his helmet and bask in her heat. Yet, he knew he could not. He shrugged and barked orders at he officers around him. They quickly administered to his requests, failure was never tolerated under the command of Kylo Ren. If any of the lower ranks noticed any differences with their commander since his return from his mysterious absence, no one would dare even whisper about it. He led now with an icy demeanour, a stone cold ruthlessness. This scared his crew even more than when he used to wildly destroy anything and everything in his path. It was as if he had finally managed to master his temper. Yet, whereas before he had let his emotions dominate his behaviour, now he locked them all away. His rage was inextricably interwoven with his feelings for Rey, so his fury had been incarcerated along with his love for the girl.

Snoke and seen into his heart and stripped it bare. As much as Snoke wanted to have Rey brought to him, he also recognised that here was the ultimate leverage to control Kylo Ren. Snoke poured image and image of all that he had planned for Rey into his mind, he bombarded Kylo Ren with her destruction. Finally, the young knight could take no more and vowed never to run from Snoke again. He begged for forgiveness and promised everything that he was to the service of the Supreme Leader. He had nowhere to go, he had done too many dark deeds. He immersed himself in the Dark Side, channelling his feelings for the girl into a dark place. Instead of finding a reprieve from his torment, he felt only numb. Diminished, that perhaps in locking away his passion for Rey, he had also lost his passion for everything else. Clenching his gloved hands into fists, he had tried to hate her. She had shown him the sun and now he was lost in the shadows.

Back on the transporter ship, Rey suddenly shivered. Her focus on her meditation wavered as the warmth from her remembered sun was unexpectedly blocked by dark clouds. She frowned. Glancing around her memory she found herself searching for him. She had promised herself that she would not do that anymore, but she could not help it. The temperature was dropping, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Glancing up at the sky she could see nothing but dark, menacing clouds. A storm was coming. She backed away from the lake and started to run back towards to the crashed ship, but although she was running she was not getting any closer to it. The rain was lashing down her body and weighed her down, panicking she screamed for him to help her. The landscape was in total darkness now, only illuminated by the jagged lightening that scorched the air around her. She began to sink into the sand, felt it dragging her down, terrified tears mixed with the driving rain and she was being smothered. The soggy sand was covering her mouth and nose. Desperately she struggled for just one more gulp of air... that was when she felt the crackle of the red lightsaber, he was standing there ... watching.

"Rey!" a gentle pair of hands grasped her shoulders, "it was just a dream. Wake up!" Opening her eyes, she saw Luke's blue eyes wide with concern. "It was a dream, you are ok, I've got you."

She sank into his arms, her hands grabbing his tunic. Her breathing was ragged, she could still taste the wet sand as it filled her mouth. Luke held her close, he had glimpsed enough of her dream to understand her despair. She was so young to have suffered so much, all he could do now was try to reassure her that he would never turn his back on her again. Did she have it in her to be able to forgive him? He knew that he would have to tell her everything soon. But for this moment in time, he knew the best he could do was just to hold her until her muffled sobs subsided. He gently stroked her back and whispered that everything was going to be ok. He could sense that some part of her wanted to reject him and deal with her terror alone. But another side of her, the side that was winning, wanted nothing more than to be held and reassured. So they sat on the floor together, and once she had calmed sufficiently, she withdrew from his arms. But she did not go far, and shuffled next to him. Backs to a metal bench, they sat together in silence and watched the never-ending stars drift past the viewport. Eventually, her head dropped to his shoulder and he breathed a sigh of relief as she slept. Using the force, he attempted to sooth her mind, letting hope stir in his own chest. A hope that maybe now he could finally put right what had been wrong for so many years.

At the front of the transport ship, Leia and the pilot heaved a combined sigh of relief. Rey's nightmare had caused fluctuations of the Force throughout the entire vessel. Unwittingly, she had projected her terror onto the occupants... for an instant they had all been trapped in the scenario with her. They had felt the rain, the smothering sand and the terror as the dark figure with the red lightsaber had loomed over them. Leia closed her eyes in despair. How can this be? What more lay ahead for them?

Author's Note:

Thank you SaintsFan1 for your kind words of encouragement!