They arrived at Rey's former AT-AT home without any conversation exchanged. It should have been unsettling to have Kylo Ren - Skywalker descendant and Jedi killer - stepping into the privates of her territory. But after the events of the day, she could not be bothered. She had trusted him back with his own lightsaber. Having him settle in her humble abode for the night was nothing.

"Stay away from that side. There are traps I've laid out there."

They stepped inside the body of the AT-AT and it became apparent that the place was too small for someone as tall as Kylo Ren. He scrutinised the place, left as it was when she had first left it unintentionally. There was a workbench with aging blueprints of ships, a time-worn hammock at the corner, and a computer terminal that did not look functional. He suspected it was in working condition however.

There was a small collection of withering flowers that caught his attention. Kylo Ren went over to inspect it as Rey busied herself in preparing the bread portions. She mixed them with a few drops of water from a pitiable makeshift-tap that leaked water instead of running water. While waiting for the chemicals to react, she looked to find a suitable mat for Kylo to sleep on while she takes her hammock for the night.

As she busied herself, little did she notice Kylo Ren's increasing intrigue over her humble collection of flowers. He desired to touch it, seeing how representative the collection was of her wholesome being. But he embodied the direct opposite of her being and if he were to make any contact with the collection, he feared the flowers might dissipate into ashes. He resolved to keeping his hands behind him as he inspected them. "Is this a favourite past-time of yours?"

Striking a casual conversation felt odd. Both of them were exhausted from the war which they have been momentarily spared from. A casual conversation could not harm supposed enemies who were accidentally displaced from the battlefield. As much as they cared to admit, they both needed it, especially if the only things they had in common were fertile ground for heated arguments.

"It helps to liven each day and bring me hope," she answered, turning to the next bread portion to prepare. "It's not like there's much to do here."

He did not want to pry, given how they have implicitly terminated their business with each other the moment she had refused to join him. But there was something fascinating about the light that spurred her each day to live and make decisions on her own. "And what hope is that?" he asked. It was hard to tell if he drew the question in a nonchalant manner or a contemptuous one.

To see my parents, she wanted to say. But they had both established that that was mere wishful thinking already. "Hope that I will survive the next day, and the next week … Your bread's ready."

Kylo Ren joined her and they both sat down to feast on the meagre bread portion. A day in the life of the scavenger, he mused to himself. The last thing he expected out of the war was to be immersed in Rey's life before she had been sucked into the grand galactic narrative. The bread tasted stale and inedible, it was hard to believe that the girl in front of him had lived on these for almost her whole life.

There was a long silence between them. Silence that was the result of their famished state more so than their different allegiances. For a moment, all they could hear was each other's chewing, at some points drinking. Rey kept a reasonable supply of water which she had reserved very carefully back then.

"Do you want more?" Rey had asked when she saw that he had finished. She normally wouldn't have asked but they had an excess from Plutt's hut. She predicted that they would not be stranded there for too long. Kylo Ren waved her off as if to say he did want more but he could handle himself. He helped himself to a portion and got it prepared.

Her answer to his question never left his head. It was simple enough yet thought-provoking for someone who lived life with the desire to enact revenge as opposed to the hopefulness of living another day. "What about hope for the war? Do you think you can make it out alive at the end of it all?" Especially since we're alone now, he implicitly said. The latter need not be communicated through any forms for Rey to pick up.

She paused at her food, watching him with wary eyes that later turned soft and almost welcoming to him. "I think you know my answer to that."

Kylo Ren shook his head in convoluted amusement as he helped himself to his second portion.

"Do you?" She posed the question back as she finished.

There was a thoughtful silence before Kylo Ren decided not to prolong it out of fear of becoming uncertain of his answer. "Of course," he said, almost a little smugly. "Just not in the way you expect, of course. I'm fighting a different war now."

"And what is that? Introducing a new order to the galaxy?" She was merely repeating the very words he had proposed to her. "How different will it all be if the means to get to it is the same?"

"You speak like the Resistance knows any better if they had the upper hand."

"You, of all people, would know that," she pointed out.

The conversation stopped then. General Organa. Princess Leia. His mother. She would know how to instil peace and order to the galaxy. She knew the right people to appoint. But carrying with her were the same old ideals that have already proven to be unsustainable during her lifetime. Proven by her own son's turn to the dark side, perhaps, but if not Ben Solo, might it have been Rey? Would Snoke have crept behind Rey's conscience and whispered false promises to lead her to the dark side if it had not worked out for him?

"We're two sides of the same coin, Rey," Kylo Ren stated. "Things will never be the same again. And one of us will be the one to make that change happen." If the Resistance wins, he could not bare to think the results of it. Would he be long dead, or would he be a part of it? What role would he play? And how would the galaxy be any different from what it was before? Kylo Ren would not let himself think too much of it, having full conviction that his vision will actualise at the end of the day.

"We may be on opposing sides but if we're both two sides of the same coin, we're guaranteed to be inseparable," she said objectively. "That means we come in a package deal."

"Are you saying you will turn for me?" He asked once more, a temptful look on his face. "Because it sure does sounds like you're reconsidering."

"No, Ben." She shakes her head. "I hate to admit it, but you've given me hope. My side of the offer will always stand."

He gave her hope. The thought was a joke. But he did not understand how she could say it so genuinely. Almost as if she believed it deep in her heart. "What? I give in to the Resistance and have my head beheaded?"

"Not unless we get to you first, still unrelenting." It sounded harsh and Rey did not believe in this. "But I won't let that happen for as long as I feel the conflict in you."

Kylo Ren watched her, seeking for any signs of wit or jest. He did not want to acknowledge the light feeling she had caused him just yet.

"That makes us the same," he concludes. "My offer still stands too."