***Author's Note***
Hello, dear readers! I know, I'm slightly behind on my posting today. I'm so sorry, but there was a lot to get through in this chapter. Enter super-angsty Ben Solo! I'm hopefully going to be able to write a good deal more over the weekend. Hope you enjoy!
A few days later, Ben was propped up in their little shelter, with his good hand pressed to his face, with his fingers massaging the bridge of his prominent nose. He had an observation to make, and he knew Rey was not going to like it. Since he had awoken, Ben and Rey had spoken very little, instead focusing on improving Ben's strength. Today, though, Ben was determined that things would be different.
"Rey?" Came Ben's soft voice from the other side of the fire. Rey looked up at the sound of her name, and cocked her head to the side, to indicate that she was listening. "How long have we been here?"
Rey's brow furrowed as she thought her answer over. "We've been here about six days or so by now; why?"
Ben nodded; "That's about what I thought. Well, in that case, we're going to have to leave here."
Rey shook her head. "Master Luke will find me. We need to wait for him."
"I have no doubt that my Uncle will find us, Rey, but right now, we need to find somewhere else to wait. The First Order will have pieced together what I've done by now. They'll be combing the forest for us, and they will find us."
"Snoke probably thinks you're dead by now, Ben." But Rey looked like she was beginning to question if they'd stayed too long already.
Ben stubbornly shook his head, "No. Snoke may be easily fooled, but Master Ren will not. He will know. Somehow, he always knows. I've never been able to hide anything from him. Listen to me, Rey. They will find us; and when they do, we will beg for a slow death before they are through with us. You have no idea what Ren is capable of." Ben shivered at some distant memory. "He is as ruthless and cruel as you think me to be, and more. I've seen him torture children to death. Children, Rey. Not even Force-Sensitive children. Just children that spoke, or laughed when he was in a poor mood. If you think I am volatile, then Ren makes me look like a saint. Please, Rey. Trust me on this; we have to leave. My shuttle isn't that far away; we could make it. They're coming, Rey. I can sense it."
Rey mulled over Ben's words. "If this Ren is really as terrible as you say he is, then maybe you're right. I'll put together some type of sled, as we'll get moving before nightfall. Do you have any idea where we'll be heading?"
Ben nodded; "I was thinking we could head to D'Qar." Rey's eyebrows flew up. "At least mother will be pleased. If she doesn't just shoot me on sight," Ben grumbled.
"Well, you must be feeling better if you have enough energy to be cranky," Rey said as she roller her eyes at Ben. She stood and went to gather the supplies for a sled. When she returned, she lased together twelve long branches, each long enough to give Ben a few inches of space so his good foot wouldn't hang off the sled and get hung up on something. She then took some spare vine and secured it to the sled, like a harness. Next, Rey took some of the cloaks that were piled on top of Ben, and lined the sled with them. Finally, she carefully maneuvered Ben onto the sled, and piled cloaks on him again to keep him warm. As an added precaution, Rey used more vines to lash Ben securely to the shed, to keep him from falling off.
"Ready?" Rey asked? At Ben's curt nod, Rey looped the makeshift harness around her shoulders like some sort of massive pack, and trudged forward, pulling Ben behind her. Their progress was slow, but it was progress. After a few hours, Rey's chest screamed in protest as her wound burst open again. Blood began to soak into her tunic, and drip onto the ground. Ben's head snapped up, and he twisted around to look at her.
"Stop." He said. "You're hurt. Let me look at that." Rey ignored him and continues on. Ben rolled his eyes, and reached around with his right hand to grasp her elbow. "Listen to me, you stupid desert rat!" At this, Rey stopped dead in her tracks to glare at him.
"You're leaving a trail, Rey." Ben pointed at the foliage surrounding them. Much of it had drips and smears of blood from Rey's wound. She flushed, feeling foolish. "Just pause a moment, and let me help you seal it, at least."
Rey shook her head. "No, I'll just re-wrap the wound with fresh bandages, and we'll get going."
Ben's face flushed with anger as he began to shout at her. "Dammit, you stubborn scavenger! We're both wounded. IF we get attacked, I'm useless in a fight. I can't walk, I can't carry anything. For pity's sake, you're dragging me through the woods on a damned sled! I can do exactly nothing! At least let me help heal you. I don't need my strength. You do!"
Rey rocked back on her heels. She could feel the helplessness, anger, fear, shame, and frustration rolling off of Ben like a sickening tide. She realized that this was a man who had always been wholly self-sufficient, and now he was not only relying completely and utterly on Rey, but on a woman; not to mention his sworn enemy. Rey felt abruptly ashamed of herself. "Okay," she said. What do you need me to do?
"Take off your tunic. Quickly; I think we've got company." Rey flushed a deep scarlet as she removed her tunic, her hands shaking. She then quickly unwound the bandages wrapped around her chest and abdomen, letting them fall to the forest floor. Ben stared at her exposed skin, momentarily stunned by her beauty. This is no dream, he thought, here she is, standing before me. Ben reached out with his only remaining hand and gently, cautiously probed the wound. He started at Rey's left hip, and drew his hand slowly up to her right shoulder, pushing the Force through her hand and into Rey's body. As he slowly drew his hand over her injury, Ben watched as it closed and left nothing but perfect skin behind. Ben paused when he reached her right breast. The ugly slash cut across the breast in a terrible, jagged slash. Ben looked Rey in the eye; "I'm sorry, but this must be done." Though she blushed, Rey nodded her assent. Ben gently cupped her breast in his hand, channeling the Force. The slash closed under his hand, and he moved on to her shoulder, with some regret. At last, the damage was repaired, and they were both flushing a deep red.
Rey was suddenly aware of the erection Ben was desperately trying to hide, and the wetness between her own thighs. Ben's eyes had gone curiously deep, and burned with his desire for her. "We should get going," Rey said. Ben nodded jerkily; it seemed healing her had taken its toll on him. As Rey forged onward, his head fell onto his chest, and his breathing deepened. Rey smiled and let him sleep. She urged herself to move faster; she was getting a bad feeling about this. Reaching out through the Force, Rey discovered, to her dismay, that Ben had been correct. They were not alone, and it was no one that Rey knew. They were drawing closer; dangerously close. Rey redoubled her speed, trying desperately to outdistance their pursuers.
Ben suddenly jerked awake. "No!" he gasped, "It's Snoke! They've found us. Run, Rey!"
"Damn it, Ben, you're not as helpless as you think you are! Help me!"
"What the hell can I do, Rey? I've only got one arm, and one leg! I'm useless!"
"Can you use the Force, or can't you!?" Ben blinked, straightening. Rey felt a fresh wave of shame roll through him.
"You're right. You keep going, I'll do what I can from here."
Suddenly, out of the trees before them, a contingent of Stormtroopers emerged. "Do what you can, Ben. I'll try to deflect the blaster fire." Rey drew her saber-staff, and twirled it as the blaster fire began. For a moment, it seemed like nothing would get through her defense, but a single blaster-bolt slipped past her twirling blades and struck her in the shoulder. The blood drained out of her face, and Ben winced as he felt her pain through the Force. Ben's hand came up, and suddenly, everything stopped. The Stormtroopers all suddenly began to float, and with one sick, resounding crack, every last one fell to the ground with broken necks. Rey looked behind her at Ben; sometimes, it was so easy to forget who he had been that when he truly showed what he could do, it truly frightened her. "Well, let's...let's just...get to the shuttle. Are we close?"
Ben cocked his head, sensing her fear towards him. "Yes, we're very close. It should only take another hour, two at the most, if you can keep up this pace." Rey nodded. "Rey. I only did that back there because it was necessary; they would have killed us."
"I know your reasons, Ben. It's just a bit...startling when you seem so gentle one moment, and you're so ruthless the next. It's very...disconcerting."
Ben pursed his lips in thought. He reached his hand back to grab hold of Rey's. "I'm sorry, Rey; I didn't mean to scare you. I don't want you hurt. Please; if you believe nothing else about me, believe that."
Rey's breath caught in her chest. Why am I feeling like this? I barely know this man, and I certainly don't trust him,she thought. "I don't know why, but I do. It's about the only thing I believe from you right now."
Ben nodded; "That's fair." They lapsed into silence for nearly an hour, until Ben said quietly, "It's just through those trees there. But that's the least of our worries. I can sense a number of First Order Pilots, waiting for us once we leave the atmosphere."
"You let me worry about those pilots."
At last, Rey could see the shuttle that had once belonged to Kylo Ren. She dragged Ben up the ramp, and pushed the button to close the loading bay. Rey knelt beside Ben, "I don't have time to strap you in."
Ben nodded, "I understand. Get us out of here."
Rey shot Ben one last worried glance as she dashed to the cockpit. She keyed in the ignition sequence, flipped a couple of switches, and the shuttle rose off the sodden ground. Rey piloted the shuttle deftly through the trees, and with a sudden burst of acceleration, broke the atmosphere of Yavin 4. But to her dismay, a fleet of Star Destroyers was waiting for them. The Destroyers released their fighter squadrons, and suddenly there was a confused mass of First Order ships circling their shuttle. Rey glanced back at Ben's pale face, and he nodded, gripping a strap for dear life. Rey quickly made the calculations for their jump to hyperspace, and punched it.
Rey laughed, but realized the celebration came too soon. Just as they entered the hyperspace channel, there came a great shuddering, and an explosion; one of the fighters had gotten off a lucky shot! They fell with a terrible shudder out of hyperspace, and were instantly sucked into the orbit of another planet, but with their engines damaged, Rey could not break free. As they entered the atmosphere of what seemed to be a very rocky planet, Rey checked their star map, and frowned in disapproval. They weren't on Yavin 4, anymore, but they weren't as far as she'd have liked, either; they were about to crash-land on Ord Biniir. Not her first choice; it was little more than a canyon-riddled pile of rocks, but it was still better than being captured by the First Order.
Rey launched herself out of the pilot's seat, and rushed over to where Ben was laying, waxen-faced and sweating. "We'll be okay, Ben. We're going to get through this, I promise." She draped herself over him, trying to protect him from what was coming. Rey felt Ben's arm wrap around her waist and pull her in tight.
"I know we'll be okay. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Was it her imagination, or did Ben press a kiss into her hair just then? She shook the thought off; not that it mattered just now. She and Ben braced themselves as the shuttle made sudden contact with the ground, hurtling them both around the shuttle bay.
Rey woke to hear her name being called. "Ben? Where are you?" In answer, she heard coughing, and something metallic being pushed over. "I'm coming! Try not to move!" She scrambled over the wreckage towards where the sound had come from. Rey moaned when she found him. "Oh, no. Are you alright? Can you move?"
Ben had been flung clear across the shuttle; amazingly, the sled seemed to have survived. "I'm alright," he groaned. "What about you? Are you terribly hurt?" Ben reached up to wipe some blood off her face, and his hand lingered on her cheek. To her very great surprise, Rey found that she didn't mind. In fact, she somewhat...liked it when he touched her like this. She flushed at the thought.
"I'm alright. Come on; let's get you out of here." With that, Rey grabbed on to the sled and, with great effort, pulled it out of the shuttle and into the blinding desert sun before returning to the shuttle to salvage what supplies she could; it wasn't fantastic news. Mostly, it was just some emergency rations; luckily, there was a decent store of water, however. When she came back out of the shuttle, Rey finally got a good look around. Unlike Jakku, this planet had very little sand. It seemed to be mostly rock and canyons. "Well; good news is, where there are canyons, there are usually caves." She looked back at Ben and grinned. "Let's go explore."
It took Rey at least two hours, but she finally found them a cave that would suffice. Thoroughly exhausted, Rey broke out some of the emergency rations and had Ben eat them while she loosened the vines that held him lashed to the sled. She then sat beside him to replenish herself. They drank sparingly of their water, but both felt much better for it. Rey climbed onto the sled with Ben and, as had become their habit since Ben had betrayed the First Order, Rey draped her arm over Ben's chest and pillowed her head on his shoulder. There was no mistaking it this time; Ben definitely pressed a kiss to her hair before muttering, "Good night, little desert rat." Rey smiled as he took her hand, and together, they drifted off to sleep.
***Author's Note***
Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter; I had loads of fun writing it. I'm trying to add some humor to their bickering; let me know what you thought. I can't wait to write more for you guys!