If Heaven and Hell decide

That they both are satisfied

Illuminate the "No's" on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you

When your soul embarks

Then I'll follow you into the dark

"I will follow you into the dark" by Death Cab for Cutie

When he opened his eyes again, it was Ben Solo who stared quietly at Rey. All the guilt and anguish Kylo Ren so easily disguised behind his malevolent façade was bare for her to see. And, what she saw, made something inside her quiver. He was petrified—scared to death that the path to the light would negate all previous sacrifices, a lifetime of difficult choices, painful losses and unfortunate circumstances.

Ominous clouds gathered above them and threatened with a rarity such as rain on that barren canyon. She reached up to touch his face, ran a tender fingertip along the scar that had branded him as her mortal enemy not so long ago. A tangent reminder of that eternal divide between the Light and the Dark Side.

"Don't be afraid, I feel it too," she whispered.

He understood right away, just as she had once upon a time: the empty loneliness, the longing to find meaning to an otherwise pointless existence, the desperate need to connect with someone who would understand...

"I should've been immune to the light," he said, eyes brimming. "Finding you was a curse, and now I'm afraid we'll both have to pay for my weakness."

Her thumb ran across his bottom lip slowly. There was infinite tenderness in her touch as the palm of her hand then slid along his jaw and curled behind his neck where she laced her fingers in between the dark locks before firmly clutching her fist around them. He didn't need further encouragement to dip his head and claim her mouth with an intensity that surprised her, given his initial reluctance. His lips pried hers open and his tongue pushed through—a brutal assault had she not been a willing participant to his unrestrained lashing. Her response was equally fervent as she met him stroke for avid stroke.

The approaching rumble of thunder rolled through the canyon, and a light drizzle began to pepper the ground around them. Ben broke the kiss to fumble with the sash around Rey's waist, his frustration growing as the stubborn knot failed to give way. A bit amused, yet way too impatient for him to figure out how to work around it, Rey decided to take charge and pulled the entire robe over her head, throwing the garment unceremoniously to the side and ignoring the roughness of the ground as she lay naked before him.

He looked deeply into her eyes, hesitant to allow his gaze to roam down the rest of her body for a long moment. She soon realized he was brushing past the surface of her mind, not so much invading it, but… caressing it. It was an odd, yet pleasant, sensation that kept growing stronger with every heartbeat. Rey let out a shuddering breath and struggled to hold his resolute stare until the feeling became so intense, she was unable to stop her eyelids from drooping shut. Her head tilted back, a grimace of delight flashing across her face when a spontaneous spark of energy ignited all her physical senses at once, making her feel more alive than she ever had.

A quiet whimper of joy gave him the green light to bury his face in the hollow of her neck, where he began kissing his way down the tender path with tortuous slowness: her throat, her collarbone... His tongue would lick at the salty skin as it trailed down, magically finding every single erogenous spot that caused her to squirm with arousal under his weight.

When his lips made it to the core of her left breast she gasped, the contrast of the cool rain against the warmth of his breath causing her back to arch. She longed for his touch, so soft—even delicate—it kept sending violent shivers up her spine. He took his time, paying careful attention to his meticulous ministrations, making sure not to leave a single spot unattended as she withered helplessly beneath him.

To both her disappointment and her delight, his lips continued their gradual trek down her ribs, past the contour of her hip, across her lower abdomen and below... The instant his mouth reached its desired destination, her body bowed off the ground and she tensed up, eyes flashing open with surprise and anticipation. His mouth began to tease her mercilessly, his hands searing hot against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. The pleading cry that escaped her throat got devoured by fast approaching thunder. As her moans went in crescendo, her breathing became increasingly ragged. She wasn't sure how much more she could take of such exquisite torture, her looming implosion now imminent.

Both her fists had a tight grip on his hair, not so much to guide his movements, but as an anchor to the physical world. A world that seemed to evaporate further into oblivion with every slight suction of his mouth or eager lap of his tongue. A tight moan ripped through her parted lips, deep and desperate and unrecognizable to her own ears.

Rain was now pouring hard, vicious pellets pounding on them, the dusty sand of the canyon slowly turning into mud. He suddenly pulled away and she found herself sobbing a desperate 'no', feeling utterly bereft as his warmth was replaced by the harsh coldness of the rain. He offered her a half smile in silent reassurance while he peeled off his soaked through shirt and trousers. A bolt of lightning fired up the sky, illuminating his naked form for a second before he dove down to claim her mouth once again to the strident sound of nearby thunder.

Her hips pumped upward, searching for contact, desperate to feel his skin against her own. So, he granted her wish. A sudden stab of pain, fast and sharp, left her out of breath as he penetrated both her body and her mind simultaneously. She exhaled a short gasp, and her nails dug into his shoulder blade hard enough to break the skin. Suspended above reality in a moment of agonizing uncertainty, she was unable to tell apart the raindrops from her tears.

Open up to me, Rey…

The unspoken command was enough to prompt her to breathe, her body slowly relaxing under his embrace, her mind easing into the ethereal space they now shared. As the initial onslaught of acute pain began morphing into pleasure, Rey's eyes fluttered open and she found him watching her intently, his expression a mixture of lust and concern. He stood very still, gauging her desire to stop or willingness to continue. Only when her lips curled into a weak, mildly encouraging smile, did he bend down to softly kiss the crease of her mouth, gently driving into her once again and causing ripples of sheer delight to course through every nerve ending in her body.

Rey could sense his strong heartbeat drumming to the same tune as her own, the colors staining his mind bursting in bright reds and warm yellows... But she could also sense the menacing darkness lurking in the background, bursting to take over, barely restrained by the erratic strands of light that still shone inside him waging an incessant battle against extinction. As frightening and foolish as it was, a small part of her wondered what would happen if he were to unleash his darker side and let Kylo Ren take over. She blushed with excitement, her arousal surging wildly at the thought.

A wave of crimson pushed through her musings like a powerful firestorm.

You want me to release the monster.

She wasn't sure whether it had been a question or an accusation, but her response came out almost automatically.

"No…"

The lie lingered between them, wavering with each deliberate thrust of his hips, awaiting a rebuttal that never came. They had already crossed a dangerous line. A line that could be easily exacerbated by her darkest desires. There was no turning back now, and all she had to do was say the word.

A subtle shift in pace brought Rey's mind into focus, pulled her back into the light. He had dragged her back on purpose when the clutches of temptation had been overwhelming enough to touch her soul. He was actually shielding her from the Dark Side.

But... why?

Soon their movements turned fluid and perfectly synchronized. Their minds merged through the same Force prism, creating a unique bond that went beyond the realm of any physical reality, and all those sensations Rey was experiencing for the first time kept building, growing steadily until they became all consuming. She cried out his name, no longer aware of the rain, the hard terrain or the chilling bite of the light breeze. All that existed at that very moment were the infinite number of silent chords forging that connection. A private song only they were able to hear.

Come out from the shadows …

Ecstasy exploded into a thousand different colors, spreading in waves of liquid pleasure that radiated from deep below Rey's belly, and flooded her body down to the very last cell. A strained moan that sounded a lot like a prayer drowned in the depths of their melding mouths, his own savage groan ripping through their climax as they steadily emerged from their secluded moment.

The storm tore through the canyon, its wrath reverberating through its tall walls in angry ripples. Rey held onto him, her breath coming out in ragged spurts that she was trying hard to get under control. Head pressed against his torso, she could feel his chest heaving just as violently. Both their bodies were covered in water and sweat, still trembling from the recent strain and release, and she wished the moment would stretch just a bit longer.

His eventual retreat left a scary void inside her. He handed her the muddy robe and stepped into his trousers without saying a word.

Now that it was all over she couldn't help but wonder if he might have any regrets. His silence was disconcerting, although it was difficult to fathom him not sensing the undeniable connection that had been created between them. Their bond had ran too deep, had been way too real to be concealed behind a simple mask—physical or otherwise. And just when she thought he'd crawl back into the skin of his apathetic self, his hand reached out to cup her cheek and his fingers brushed away a wet strand of hair from her face.

"We should head back," he said, blinking against the rain.

Rey nodded, then tilted her head and leaned into his touch almost against her will. Such a strange a thing to crave now, especially for someone who had always recoiled from the blanket of intimacy. Her lips broke into a shy smile as they both stood up, blushing slightly at the sight of the fresh, red tracks across his shoulder blade. He turned around and caught her staring.

"Some things will never change, Scavenger," he said. And, though his eyes were as dark as she'd ever seen them, they sparked with a strange new glimmer. "There's no way I'm ever going to come out of our encounters unscathed, is there?"

His tone had been light, but there was an underlying emotion that she couldn't quite decipher. Rey tucked a damp strand of hair behind her ear, unsure as to what was causing the invisible barrier between them, wondering if she might just be imagining things. Another volt of lightning struck just a few feet from where they were standing, the deafening sound of whipping thunder a fraction of a second behind it.

"What's wrong?" she asked over the uneven sound of wind and rain.

"I warned you about the seductive nature of the Dark Side," he answered against the tempest. His skin appeared even paler under the violet light of the storm, his hair and his eyes impossibly dark in stark contrast. "You got too close to the edge."

"It was tempting," she admitted.

"I told you, you're playing with fire!"

"Ben—"

The sinister intensity behind his eyes rattled her, and what he said next made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"That's not the name you cried out just moments ago."

[TBC…]