Ben kicked wildly against the chair's restraints, growling furiously as he struggled to free himself, consumed with the drive to destroy Hux before he so much as laid a slimy hand on her.

Rey, Rey get out of there, he urged desperately, but he knew his telepathic efforts were blocked out by Snoke.

He shut his eyes tight as he tapped into his deepest fury, his darkest thoughts, the chair shaking and rattling as he pushed against the steel restraints.

His right arm broke free, but he wasted no time in trying to pry the steel off of his left, straining against the brace that held his head back against the chair. He became so engrossed in concentrating on using the Force to break free that he hadn't heard Captain Phasma enter the room.

"Sir," she addressed, and Ben's eyes flickered over to her. Phasma moved her hands to her chrome helmet and slowly removed it, looking at him with a solemn expression. Ben froze momentarily, not having seen her without her helmet for years.

"Phasma?" He said, taken aback.

She lifted her eyebrows as she reached into a pack at her side that he hadn't noticed. Ben's mouth dropped open as she pulled out the black and silver hilt of his lightsaber, extending it to him.

Ben hesitantly took it, eyeing her suspiciously as she moved to the side of the room, pressing buttons on a controller that opened the restraints on his body, the steel unclamping from his face. Ben hopped up from the chair but immediately fell back against it, his head swimming as the hilt of his saber clacked against the metal chair.

"Easy does it," Phasma said, and handed him a vial of water. As he chugged the water, Phasma peered over towards nervously. "You need to go, before a security unit comes by again," she urged. Ben stepped towards her, placing an uneasy hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you," he said ardently, and began stalking away.

"Wait," Phasma called, and he looked back at her. She trotted to his side and pulled a bulging cloth out of the pack. She removed the cloth, revealing his helmet. "Take this," she urged, pushing it into his free hand. She looked up at him seriously. "Safety first."

….

Rey sat in the corner of her cell, scratching drawings into the metal surface of the wall near her tally marks.

"What are you drawing?" Allan asked, his helmeted head peering through the bars of her cell door.

She smiled at him, content that she had gradually formed a form of friendship between them, some feeble humanity. "These are my friends. This here is a pilot, the greatest in the galaxy. His name is Poe. And this—" she said, tapping on a drawing of a stormtrooper without a helmet— "this is my friend Finn. He used to be a stormtrooper, like you."

Allan's head jolted. "Used to? What, did he just leave?"

Rey nodded. "Yep. He felt that he had nothing to fight for," she said, eyeing him closely. "And now he gets to choose what he wants to do with his life. He's...happy."

Allan regarded her silently as they both heard the clicking of approaching boots. The stormtrooper turned around as a red-headed general in all black marched up to him.

"Unlock the cell," he demanded, and Allan seemed to hesitate before turning around and pressing the buttons on the door to unlock it.

As the barred door swung open, the red-headed man stepped into the cell, his hands clasped behind his back.

"My, you're the little rebel scum that Kylo Ren seems so attached to," the general taunted, tilting his head as he studied her. Rey felt a chilling unease, and she slowly scooted back farther into her corner.

"What do you want?" She asked sharply.

The general suddenly stepped towards her, and Rey got to her feet, folding her arms in front of her. "Jumpy, are we?" He mocked, moving closer to her. With growing dread, Rey recognized the greedy look in his eyes.

"Get away from me," she snapped, trapped in her corner.

"Come here," he snarled, grabbing at her arm, and Rey struggled against him.

Suddenly, a blast echoed in the small room, and the general collapsed to his feet, shrieking in pain as he gripped at his side. Rey looked up at Allan standing in the doorway, his blaster still held out before him. He seemed frozen in place. "What did I just do?" He breathed.

"Allan!" Rey exclaimed, and leapt over the general as she ran into the stormtrooper, embracing him. "Thank you, my friend," she said fervently. He seemed about to take his helmet off when the sound of quick, heavy footsteps grew near from the end of the hall.

The stormtrooper pushed Rey behind him as he flipped around, his blaster trained on the end of the hall, waiting defensively.

Suddenly, a crackling red lightsaber followed by a familiar black form entered at the end of the hall. Allan began shooting at him, and the helmeted Ben was quick to parry his shots.

"No! Stop!" Rey exclaimed, shoving Allan aside as hard as she could. He watched confusedly as Rey faced Ben, who stood motionless in the hall as he gazed across at her.

"Rey," Ben said, startled, his voice obscured through the helmet's modulator.

Her eyes moistening with tears, Rey ran towards him, and he met her halfway, disengaging his lightsaber as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly for a moment.

"O-oh," Allan said dejectedly behind them.

Rey pulled gently away, looking up at his helmet as Ben raised his hands to either side of it, clicking it off of his head. Rey's mouth opened in dismay as she saw the blood all over his face, the purplish coloring around his eyes, his sallow pallor.

"Are you alright?" He asked concernedly.

Rey nodded assuredly. "Yes, I'm fine."

She placed a hand to his cheek, a tear streaming down her own. "Ben, what have they done to you?" She asked wistfully. He closed his weary eyes at her touch and and Rey leaned up to kiss him, but stopped as a voice behind her spoke.

"Ren! How can you even stand?" The general snarled, staggering into the hall from the cell. He gripped at his bleeding side.

Ben moved Rey to the side with his arm as he stalked up to the general. "You," he seethed, "You're coming with me."

"You and what army? You'll never get out of—AHHHHHHH!" The general screamed in agony as Ben had whipped out and ignited his saber, slicing straight through the general's leg.

Rey gasped, the blood draining from her face. She staggered back into the wall behind her, alarmed at Ben's brutality.

The general again crumpled to the floor, blood spurting from his stumped thigh as Ben leaned down to grab the general's remaining attached leg. Ben dragged the howling general behind him as he turned around, looking over at Rey's white face.

"Let's go," he said calmly, nodding towards her, and Rey looked from Ben to Allan, who now peered nervously from around the corner of Rey's cell door. Ben realized her apprehension, concern crossing his dark features. "Rey, we have to go," he urged, and began moving forward, dragging the general along behind him.

Rey reluctantly moved to his side, away from the general and his thick trail of blood, trying not to think about the situation too much. She eyed Ben out of the corner of her eye as he slid his helmet back on with his free hand.

As they reached the main open corridor that ran through the ship, they ran into a troop of passing stormtroopers, who all backed into each other in alarm in Ben's presence. Their helmets swivelled as they looked between Rey, Ben, and the general that he drug behind him.

Ben straightened himself imposingly, igniting his crackling saber before him in his free hand. "You're all next, if you don't get back to work," he threatened. The troopers immediately shoved through one another to flip around and continue down the hall. Even Rey shivered at his menacing tone, the chilling quality the helmet gave to his voice.

"Yes, yes, Commander," the troopers stuttered.

Ben and Rey continued down the hall swiftly, Ben attaching his lightsaber back at his side. Rey nearly jogged to keep up at his side.

"Where are we going?" She whispered as they passed another group of staring stormtroopers.

"The cargo hangar," he said in a low voice. "We're getting out of here."

They were nearly to the hangar as a tall, chrome stormtrooper stood in the hallway before them. Ben stopped, and Rey followed suit.

"Ben," Rey said nervously, gripping his lower arm.

"It's okay," he said quietly to her. He looked up across at the stormtrooper. "Phasma," he said, moving towards her.

The chrome trooper nodded. "Sir, your cargo ship is prepared. You'd better hurry," she urged, and turned as she began leading them down the hall. Rey was surprised as she recognized that the voice was female.

They made it into a large, open hangar where Phasma continued leading them towards a large shuttle, larger than Ben's own former command shuttle. Phasma pressed a button on the side of the ship and a loading platform dropped down.

Ben hurriedly dragged the general up into the ship, tossing his limp body inside.

"Ugh, was that really necessary, Kylo?" Phasma asked, clearly disgusted.

Ben urged Rey into the ship, and she remained in the doorway as Ben stood on the loading ramp, looking down at Phasma. "Coming?" He asked through his helmet.

Phasma's helmet swiveled. "No. You two need to go. I belong here."

Ben stared at Phasma, and Rey watched him curiously. He stepped down to Phasma and began speaking to her in a hushed, low voice. Rey strained to listen, but she couldn't catch any of what he was saying. He then turned around and marched up the platform, attempting to slide past Rey into the ship, but she blocked his path.

"What did you tell her?" Rey asked, eyeing Phasma as she stalked away through the hangar.

Ben hesitated to speak, and pulled his helmet off of his head. He looked concernedly down at Rey. "I told her to make sure our ship's exit was cleared," he said, lowering his brows.

Rey shook her head, lowering her own brows. "I don't believe y—" But she was cut off as Ben pulled her face to his, pressing a deep kiss onto her lips. He slid his hand through her loose hair, pulling her closer, and Rey's mind when blank as she was filled with warm fervor, raising her hand to his arm.

When Ben broke from the kiss, he slid his hand from the back of her head to her cheek, tracing his gloved fingers across to her quivering lips.

"Enough talking. We need to get out of here," he said, dropping his hand from her face and sliding past her, moving into the pilot's chair. Rey remained frozen in place, taken aback at the power of his kiss, tracing her fingers over her mouth as he just had.

She blinked as she brought herself out of her stupor, moving into the seat next to Ben in front of the control board. She watched as he hurriedly pressed buttons along the board, and Rey moved forward to switch closed the loading ramp. Ben eyed her as she did so, his brows raising subtly.

Ben flipped on the engines, and the ship hummed to life. "Thrusters," he requested, watching Rey, and she pulled a lever. The ship began lifting from the ground of the hangar, and an alarm immediately sounded in the hangar. Rey shot Ben an alarmed look.

"You said you told her to clear our ship!" She exclaimed, and he looked at her imploringly.

"That doesn't mean they did clear it!" He retorted, and began steering the ship around as stormtroopers aligned below it, their blasters aimed upwards at them. "Hold on," Ben urged as the troopers began shooting at the ship, their blasts reverberating through the metal structure.

He shoved the engines backwards and the ship shot forward, moving out of the hangar swiftly as the trooper's blasts could no longer reach them.

Behind them, the general growled. "Ren, goddamn you!" He shrieked, gripping onto the back of Ben's chair. Ben leapt from his seat and kicked the general away, seething.

Seeing his preoccupation, Rey jumped into Ben's empty seat and began steering the ship away from the immense star destroyer. The radar flashed and beeped as several small dots trailed them on the screen. "We've got company!" Rey called back over her shoulder as she set the ship's speed at maximum. Rey saw blasts from the oncoming TIEs on the screen, and she veered the ship left and right away from them.

Ben jumped up behind her, gripping the back of the chair. "Here, I've got it, he urged, reaching over her for the steering controls, but she shrugged his arm away.

"No, let me do it," she snapped, and he remained standing behind her. Rey continued to veer the ship away from the blasts, and curiously, one by one, the TIEs turned around, reversing course. Rey stared at the control screen, not believing that they were retreating. "Why did they pull back?" She asked confoundedly.

"It must be a trick," Ben said, leaning over to peer at the screen with her. But soon enough, the TIEs left the screen, and did not return. Ben moved to the side of Rey's chair and began typing in coordinates. "Well, I've checked the system, and there are no tracking devices that would allow the Empire to follow us. I'm not sure why they turned back."

Rey eyed the coordinates Ben typed into the screen, then looked back up at him confusedly. "We're going back there?" She asked, searching his eyes.

He jerked his head back towards the general's prone, unconscious body. "We need to drop off some garbage." A sly smile formed on his mouth. "You're a very talented pilot," he said, his eyebrows lifting as he looking admiringly into her eyes.

Rey felt herself blush slightly at the compliment, and she smiled at him weakly, exhausted from her endeavor. She slowly raised from her chair as Ben leaned towards her. He began raising his hand to her face, and she stopped it. He looked at her searchingly as she held his wrist, pulling the glove from his hand.

He gripped his large warm hand over hers, sliding his fingers over hers as he then slid his hand up her arm to the back of her head, kissing her gently. She tasted the blood and sweat on his mouth, but she didn't care, she wanted all of him as he was.

Rey gripped the back of his neck as she kissed him more fervently, savoring every moment. Her body pulsed with warmth, with the Force.

Rey lost track of where they were, of anything around them. They were no longer standing in the cargo ship, they were floating, ascending into space itself. They were spinning at the very center of the universe.

Rey, she heard in her mind, and she abruptly broke from the kiss, blinking and looking up into Ben's gleaming eyes.

"I—I can hear you now," she said, her eyebrows raising in surprise. She realized she could sense the comfort of his presence once again, the aura of his mind. She sensed an intensity from him as he gazed down at her, his open mouth forming a smile as he gripped her arms.

He swept her off of her feet, and she giggled as he held her above him, smiling at each other. Ben slowly lowered her back to the ground, his arms wrapping around her as he pressed his mouth to hers.

Rey pulled back from the kiss, looking up into his impassioned eyes. Ben, she pressed, "I..."

Ben stared down at her a moment, his brows furrowing as his eyes grew glossy. He blinked in recognition. "I know," he said quietly, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Rey beamed as she was suddenly filled with his reciprocated emotion.

….

After their ship landed back near the snowy encampment on Drecenia, Rey watched Ben as he leaned over the general, who remained semi-conscious in his own pool of blood. It was a grotesque scene, but Rey's vision was distorted, only able to focus on ben's strong, broad form under his dark cloak.

She raised her vial to her lips, chugging down more water. Phasma had made sure the ship had been stocked with plenty of food and water, and after kissing in the control room, Ben and Rey again became aware of their hunger and had been quick to satiate their appetites.

Ben tightened the makeshift cloth tourniquet that he had made on the general's leg, and the man cursed under his breath at Ben. "Shut up," Ben snapped, glaring down at the man.

Rey stood in front of the downed general, shooting him her own angry look. "You're going to get what you deserve," she said, and the general curled his lip. He opened his mouth to speak to her, but Ben slapped him across the face.

"Don't you dare speak to her, you slimy son of a bantha," Ben hissed, giving the general a kick in his side as he stood up. He shook his gloves of the general's blood and stood next to Rey, his eyes fierce as he stared down at the wriggling man.

His face softened as he looked back over at Rey, giving her a small, mischievous smile. "Let's take out the trash," he said, and she nodded in agreement.

Together, they dragged the general's body out through the snow, the man cursing and sputtering as the snow got in his face and mouth. He left a wide trail of slick red blood.

"Where are you taking me?" He wheezed, his eyes red with anger.

They dragged him a bit further, between the buildings and the line of trees. Ben turned around, eyeing him calmly. "We're going to let nature take its course," he said, eyeing the blood trail. "Any time now, with that amount of blood."

Rey watched as the general looked confused, and swivelled his head in the snow as a low growl sounded within the line of trees at their side. "No," he breathed, shaking his head wildly.

"Oh, yes," Ben said darkly, narrowing his eyes at the general.

"What's his name, by the way?" Rey whispered to Ben.

"Hux," he answered quietly.

"It's your turn to die and rot, Hux," Rey called, and she and Ben moved away from him as several shrieks sounded from the forest. She felt a strong, strange satisfaction from watching him lying in the snow.

Ben smiled over at Rey, raising his eyebrows. "I'm so glad you're okay," he breathed, his eyes dropping to the snow below. "If you hadn't…"

Rey moved in front of him, looking up at his solemn face as several nexus stalked toward Hux from the woods. "Hey," she breathed, and Ben's eyes lifted to hers. She smiled at him, bringing a hand to his face. "I'm right here." She leaned up and kissed him, her lips sliding against his fervidly.

The nexus descended upon Hux behind them, and Rey was only vaguely aware of the man's shrieks and screams as the began tearing into him, as if the Force itself were separating them from their environment. Again, Rey felt that they were in their own world, nothing else mattering but Ben's lips on hers, his breath on her face.

Ben kissed her more deeply, pressing her backwards through the snow as his hands slid to her face, her arms, her waist. Rey gasped as he suddenly scooped her up into his arms, carrying her over the snow towards the line of buildings ahead. She gripped onto him tightly as they floated away, increasingly oblivious of the carnage taking place behind them.

No one messes with Solo's girl! Looks like Rey has a certain effect on most men around her...and it also seems that she's influenced by Ben's dark side, enjoying watching Hux in the snow. Do you feel bad for Hux, or do you think he got what he deserved? Thanks for reading!