She had woken up in the middle of the night expecting to find his body next to her on the cot in the small room they were sharing, only to find an empty space beside her. They hadn't talked much after the conversation they'd had at dusk. Nothing much left to say, really. In the end, it was easier to think of the darn prophecy as a children's story, something with which to infuse people's dreams.

A fairy tale.

Except, she knew better. For one, she knew the Force was real. Until recently, she would've as easily discarded it as an urban legend, or some spooky myth about some elusive universal balance. Also, she also remembered Han talking about Luke going in search of the first Jedi Temple. If Luke believed it to be real, who was she to doubt its existence?

And then, despite her inner struggle, there was that undeniable attraction she had always felt towards Kylo Ren… Rey wasn't sure what exactly she found so enthralling about him. At first, she was sure it had been fear and curiosity what had drawn her to him, the thrill and anticipation of facing an unfamiliar danger. Then, that had morphed into a hatred she wasn't even aware she could harbor, but as real as the burning fire in the pit of her stomach. And now… She wasn't even sure where she stood now regarding him. She would be lying to herself if she were to deny she'd been rattled by the brief glimpse into Ben Solo's persona. The man Kylo Ren had once been.

As much as she tried to shake the image of his eyes reflecting the golden hues of the sunset, her mind kept taking her back to that ethereal moment in which the monster had been drowned by the last remnants of warmth inside his soul. Heartbreaking as it was, she had seen him for who he really was or, rather, who she wished him to be: Han's son.

Bring him back…

Rey willed away the tears that had suddenly flooded her eyes. She wouldn't let her judgment be clouded by such a fleeting event. What if it had been a ploy to find her weakness? What if it was just a strategy to make her succumb to the Dark Side, lured by her desire to… what exactly? Save him? Lead him back to the light?

But then, she remembered the pain—the gut-wrenching agony she'd absorbed, albeit for a second, while seating beside him on the canyon rock.

Ben's pain.

She wasn't sure when it had happened but, at one point, their emotions had become intertwined. Often now, Rey was able to feel his anger, his hostility and, on numerous occasions, his struggle to repress the explosiveness of his temper. Other times she felt a deep chill settling within her, numbing her to the core. Perhaps that's why she'd been so shaken by that brief glimpse into his psyche, such a rare glimmer of light…

It was thirst, not so much insomnia, which finally dragged her out of bed. She padded her way out of the room and into the living area, where she found Ren sitting on a chair hunched down by the dying fire—still as a statue. Rey wasn't sure whether he was asleep or awake as she quietly went into the kitchen. Then, she sensed her answer.

He's awake. He has been following my every move.

After downing a cup of water in several long gulps, Rey rubbed the knots from the back of her neck and was already heading back to the room when she heard his voice, low, almost a whisper.

"You are trying so hard not to believe in your destiny."

She stopped in her tracks, not really in the mood to engage in conversation, but finding it impossible not to offer a retort. "You are trying so hard to believe in it blindly."

Shifting on the chair, Kylo Ren turned around to face her and their eyes locked.

"You feel it as clearly as I do," he said, his voice even. "From the second we met, even before then, you have been drawn to me. Just because you despise everything I stand for and represent, it doesn't mean that what you are feeling is not real. This is bigger than either of us and you know it."

Rey found his presumption irritating and tried to convince herself that his words didn't have a shred of validity, that the 'attraction' he perceived was merely a mixture of fear and fascination towards the unknown. She lowered her head to avoid his piercing stare, but that only made her feel even more vulnerable, her aggravation in turn increasing exponentially.

Kylo Ren stood up and unhurriedly began to close the distance between them. "There's a part of you that finds the Dark Side too enticing to resist," he continued, approaching her with deliberate slowness. "You try your best to hide it, but I can see it in your eyes every time you look at me." He flashed the faintest of smiles, his dark eyes pinning her in place. It wasn't a mind trick, she realized, but for some odd reason she found herself unable to move, frozen on the spot until he was just at an arm's length away. "As much as you try to fight it, the attraction keeps getting stronger…" He was now towering over her, his voice barely over a whisper. "I warned you, Scavenger."

She had no choice but to hold his stare, now so close she could almost see her own reflection in his eyes.

"About what?" she asked, refusing to give into his antics.

"You should hate me."

The tone of his voice was at complete odds with the words he'd just spoken. The statement had not sounded like a warning at all. It had sounded like a plea. And suddenly, Rey understood…

"You want me to hate you," she frowned, unsure of whether she had been given access into his mind or had acquired the information through her own intuition. "It's the only way… If I give into these feelings… If I let myself care about you, it would derail any plans you might have had for me to join the Dark Side. Am I right?"

Had she not learned to read him over the past few days, she might have missed the slight twitch of his jaw, the quick shift in his eyes, and the subtle exhalation through barely parted lips.

"Am I right?!" she insisted angrily.

Ren shook his head from side to side slowly.

"No," he said quietly. "You have it all wrong. It's not so much about how you feel."

"Oh, really?" she scoffed. "Then what's all that about me needing to h—"

"IT'S ME WHO CAN'T…!" he roared, stunning them both.

And, for a moment, he looked as surprised and afraid as he had been in that cold and sterile interrogation room after she'd managed to gain access into his mind for the first time. Closing his eyes, he struggled to regain his composure. When he opened them again, he focused on an empty spot past her left shoulder, seemingly unable to make eye contact.

"It was easier when I could hear him inside my head," he said through clenched teeth. "Ever since I can remember, he's been guiding my thoughts, my tastes, my feelings… He's always been there in some form of another, like a mentor, like the father I never…" Ren swallowed hard a couple of times, resentment written all over his features. "He's gone now. Ever since we got here. It feels… strange."

"You don't need it," she assured him. "You don't need Him!"

He regarded her carefully, his expression unreadable. She tried to pick up on what he was feeling, but he was tightly guarded, denying her access to even the tiniest emotion, unless…

"You've been under his control for so long you no longer know how to feel," she whispered.

He bit the inside of his cheek, his gaze shifting to the side, and Rey fought the urge to run her thumb over those creased brows, such a clear manifestation of his troubled mind.

"I find solace in this numbness," he whispered, voice cracking slightly. "I'm tired of living with the alternative."

Rey took a step closer to him, wishing things had been different between them and blaming Snoke for how it all had turned out. She could feel the prickling of fresh tears as her vision blurred, and she lowered her head to hide them.

General Organa didn't talk much about her lost son, but on the rare occasion she'd mention something in passing, she'd regarded Rey with the eyes of someone forever haunted by a painful past. She was well aware of the cruel grasp the supreme leader had on her son. As for Rey, she never guessed how far back the manipulation really went and, though not really shocked as to how early Snoke had dug his clutches into the boy's mind, she was saddened to discover it must have been while Ben was still an infant.

"Snoke has been using you all along," she told him with misdirected harshness. She chose anger over grief, partly because it was more empowering, but also in hopes she might shake him out of that funk that she found so disconcerting. "You are nothing but a pawn in his nasty scheme to destroy everything your family fought for!"

A shroud of darkness descended upon Ren's expression. He grabbed her arm so tightly, Rey was sure his fingers were leaving an imprint on the skin of her bicep. "Stop bringing up my family!" he hissed, barely an inch from her face. "You know nothing about them!"

"Let go of my arm!"

The wild rollercoaster of emotions that was their relationship roared through the stillness of their earlier break.

She was skewering him with cold, harsh eyes intended to pierce his very soul. Her stern request didn't have its desired effect. Rey noticed Ren's lips curl into a wicked smile and his gaze travel down to her lips. Before she had a chance to react, his mouth came crushing down on hers, hard and demanding. She squirmed against the sudden onslaught, twisting in his arms for a long moment, fighting a losing battle against his physical strength, against the conflicting sensation stirring deep below her belly. The heat of his breath tasted downright sinful. It made her head spin and her knees go weak.

When he finally pulled back Rey stared at him wide eyed, partly furious, partly violated, partly something else entirely she'd rather not dwell into. It took her a couple of seconds to sober up before her hand flew across his face, connecting with his left cheek in a loud slap that broke the static silence.

Kylo Ren simply looked down at her unperturbed, his expression serene, almost… smug.

"Sometimes you make it too easy, Scavenger," he grinned malevolently. "For a second there I had your bleeding heart in the palm of my hand."

With those words, Ren left her standing in the middle of the living area and disappeared inside the bedroom.

[TBC…]