As Mac had promised, the monties had brought a sac full of artefacts ranging from rudimentary carved sticks in the form of lances to highly elaborate weapons such as hold-out and other type of blasters. The crossguard saber had been amongst the numerous pieces included in their priced collection. Few of the blasters had any ammo left, but Mac found them a fair trade worth sparing a few gallons of water and, considering the regular visits by the likes of the group of pirates the day before, the transaction was completely justified.

Rey didn't have much of an appetite after their return from the canyon. She had joined the group for dinner just to be polite, and retired to her quarters immediately after. Through the door, she'd heard Mac and Kylo Ren talking, their muffled voices lulling her to sleep. She spent most of the night submerged in strange dreams she couldn't remember upon waking. Impossible to chase images of Luke and the island evaporated from her thoughts like smoke, as well as those of Kylo Ren… or had it been Ben Solo?

Sometime before dawn, Rey found herself awake and staring at the ceiling. Once again, she had slept alone in the cot. A cold, empty space beside her indicated Ren had opted to sleep elsewhere, if at all. She wasn't sure she could blame him. Her mind automatically traveled to the previous evening, how they both had let a dangerous physical attraction get the better of them. And, as much as she tried to ignore it, the memory of that kiss kept coming back to haunt her: the way his lips had softly moved over hers, the warmth of his hand on the side of her face, his gentle caress, the lush flavor of his mouth…

A wave of arousal swept over her and she squeezed her eyes shut, pushing it aside along with a spark of some deeper emotion she refused to dwell into. Angry with herself, Rey rolled out of bed and got dressed in a haste. She wasn't sure how much longer it would be until daybreak. It was still dark outside when she stepped into the living area and found Ren sitting by the fire, carefully polishing his precious red gem with a small laser cutter, courtesy of the treasure trove the monties had left the day before. The crossguard lightsaber lay dismantled beside him, the cracked Kyber crystal exposed at the heart of its hilt.

"Today we'll use lightsabers during our training," he informed her, his focus still on the small stone in his hand. "Make sure your weapon is in good condition."

He hadn't even turned around to face her. It was just his way, she supposed—distant and aloof. Rey pulled her saber out of the holster and inspected its extension and blade holder. "I was testing it out yesterday," she said. "It shone a bit duller than usual."

"Let me see it," Ren said, this time turning to her.

She hesitated for a moment, fearing it might be a trick on his part to steal her saber once again, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Conning her into giving him something was not really his style. If he really wanted it, he would have used a more direct approach either by fighting her for it, or simply snatching it while she slept.

Rey handed him the lightsaber and sat beside him. He studied every spec of the hilt, tilted it and scrutinized every nook and cranny before finally igniting it. The blade vibrated in bright blue, its static sound filling the early morning silence. Ren examined its length and intensity, the energy of the weapon that had once defeated him reflecting off his eyes like it had once, so long ago now… The light and sound of the blade was absorbed by its hilt the moment Ren extinguished the saber.

"It looks okay to me," he stated, handing it back to her. "The problem probably lies with its wielder."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked, wounded by his assumption.

Ren lifted his left shoulder in a half shrug, his attention back on the laser cutter. "You've had that thing with you since I gave it back a couple of days ago in the cavern," he began, his voice mellow, "yet you let those thugs overpower you yesterday when you could have easily used it against them."

"Do I need to remind you they were all armed with blasters?" she retorted defensively. "Or that they had a little girl a trigger pull away from her death while you just stood by and did nothing to prevent it?"

"Relax, Scavenger," he almost smirked. "Nothing was going to happen to you or the girl."

His words struck a nerve with her. How dared he undermine the situation they'd all been forced to endure by his lack of action? She was about to deliver a sour response when, out of the blue, she managed to feel the assurance that he hadn't spoken.

I wouldn't have allowed it…

It baffled her just how easily he could throw her off balance. He was so full of contradictions sometimes it made her head spin. She supposed that was part of what made him dangerous. Just when darkness seemed to have consumed him, a ray of light shone through making her defenses crumble and rendering her vulnerable to his odd charm. But she could see a certain vulnerability in him as well. He had pretty much professed it to her the day before. Dealing with his conflicting personalities disconcerted her and, to her surprise, she felt more comfortable talking to Kylo Ren than to Ben Solo. At least talking to the monster prevented her from pondering on the feelings that had begun brewing inside her for his alter ego.

Ren blew the dust off the gem and inspected it one last time under the light of the fire. He then measured the narrow slit left by the Kyber crystal inside the hilt of his saber against the thickness of the gem and, not quite satisfied yet, inserted the stone in his pocket.

"Are you ready?" he asked, expertly assembling the lightsaber in record time.

"Are you?" she shot back, reminding him without words that the last time they dueled she was the one who had wiped him out.

He stood up and regarded her evenly, a slight shadow of wounded pride flashing across his eyes. "Trust me, had I really wanted to kill you that night in the forest, I would have."

"Really?" she defied, standing up to make their height difference less obvious. "So, why didn't you?"

His eyes trailed down to her throat, sensed her quickening pulse through her jugular, and then met her eyes once again. "You know why," he answered, his expression unreadable.

The first rays of sunrise found them facing each other in the canyon, lightsabers ready to ignite. It was Kylo Ren who sparked his first. He swirled the blade around him, drawing a circle of light by his side before standing on guard, awaiting for Rey to bring her own saber to life. The moment she did, he charged, forcing her to go on the defensive right away.

"What have I told you about giving your opponent the chance to attack first?" he berated as their blades locked on a brief standoff.

His condescension enraged her enough to push back, retaliating against his attacks blow for blow in a dance of light and shadows that, to a mere observer, would have appeared perfectly choreographed. As the morning progressed their initial drive began to diminish, and after a while their stamina wavered, leaving them sweating and panting with every strike. Drained by the prolonged effort, they eventually called the duel a tie and took a break to hydrate and allow their bodies to briefly recover.

"You're a natural with the saber, Scavenger," he praised, still trying to get his breathing under control. "I must say I'm having a harder trouble defeating you than I had anticipated. You had a good teacher. I see Luke has taught you a few useful Jedi moves."

"I thought you didn't much care for your uncle," she said, also breathing raggedly.

"I don't," Ren admitted, "but I still respect him as a Force user. Plus, he was trained by a great Jedi Master."

"I know! I wish I could've met Master Yoda," Rey said wistfully. "Luke obviously holds him in very high esteem."

"I was referring to your grandfather, Obi Wan."

"Oh…" she blinked, the information hitting her with unexpected bluntness.

"He never told you." Ren lifted an eyebrow, the disdain towards his uncle clear in that simple gesture. "I'm not surprised. He's great at keeping secrets. Just as he concealed your identity from you all these months while you trained as his padawan, am I right?"

Rey didn't have an answer as to why Luke might have not told her about her lineage to Ben Kenobi. She even toyed with the idea that Ren might have lied to her regarding her ancestry, but her instincts knew better than to deny the connection. Somehow she had always known there was something special about her, had always felt that distinctive link to her past.

"Don't try to figure him out," he advised her. "You'll make yourself crazy."

"Well, that is something you both have in common, then."

To her utter shock, Ren smiled—he actually smiled! There was no trace of his usual evilness behind it, either, just genuine amusement that reached all the way to his eyes. But the moment he caught her staring his grin gradually faded, giving way to mixed feelings and an awkward silence.

"Ready to continue?" he asked, his voice subdued.

She nodded, this time firing up her saber first, which prompted him to immediately follow suit. They engaged right away, no room for talking or analyzing the unforeseen thawing of his demeanor. The brutal blows, as they were dished out and reciprocated, gave them hardly any chance to breathe, let alone ponder on the perilous direction in which their personal relationship seemed to be heading.

Ren used the momentum of a body swirl to strike across Rey's blade, which she barely managed to sustain by taking a step back and leaning her full weight forward. Her only way out of the saber lock unscathed was to push against his saber and spin to the side, but her foot got stuck in between two rocks and she stumbled, almost falling to the ground had it not been for the strong hand that grabbed her wrist, helping her regain her balance.

She stared at him for a fraction of a second and then she swiped her leg across the back of his, causing his knees to buckle and using all her strength in that moment of limited stability to drag him down. The instant his back hit the ground she dug her knee into his sternum, the incandescent blue of her blade hovering dangerously close to his neck.

"Never give into your enemy's weakness, Ren!"

He was breathing heavily, looking at her silently with a mixture of awe and pride. His damp hair stuck to his forehead, his eyes had grown darker, his pupils dilated with excitement, with… arousal. Rey felt it too. The overwhelming physical need barely contained behind a mask of indifference. She slowly moved the saber away from his neck, extinguishing its blade once her arm had reached her side. Her other hand was firmly pressed against his shoulder in a symbolic attempt to immobilize him, not that he was struggling in the least. They held each other's gaze, allowed themselves to drown into each other's mind for one brief, ethereal moment.

"Get off me, Scavenger," Ren whispered sounding very unconvincing.

His mouth said one thing, but his body, his mind, screamed something completely different.

"You're going to have to fight me off," she told him sternly.

"Training's over!" he hissed, anger gripping at his voice. "I mean it! Get off!"

"No!"

Before she knew what was happening he had rolled them over and now it was she who lay on her back, his weight pinning her down, his hands holding her wrists at either side of her head.

"Didn't you listen to a word I said yesterday!" he roared. His features turned hard once again, and the blazing fury in his eyes made Rey flinch inwardly. "Stop playing with fire!"

"You're holding back because you care," she said tightly. "I want to bring you back into the light, but I keep feeling the pull to the Dark Side. It's getting easier and easier to stare into that abyss and it terrifies me! I'm trying to resist it, to resist him, but it is almost impossible because every time I look at him now I see you."

Their gaze clashed—hers refusing defeat, his lit with an intensity that was hard to read. The electric charge around them made the air vibrate and the ground slightly rattle: the energy of the combined sides of the Force converging in one single spot.

Torn apart, Kylo Ren tightened his grip on Rey's wrists and closed his eyes. For better or worse, his fate had been sealed.

[TBC…]