Scintilla (n.) - a tiny trace or spark of a specified quality or feeling.

He felt a part of himself, touched by her presence, reaching out, as if it take his hand. It begged for companionship, and he took her grasp in his own, embracing, exposing a part of himself he'd not felt in years, awakened. It pooled between them, that warm sensation. A small amount of his internal anguish melted away… but the pain, from another source, hit them both with a jolt, re-envisioning his power. She cowered before him, then rebelled with a vengeance. Her anger buffeted him, shoving the small exchange between them, finally breaking the bridge between them by force.

Ren involuntarily shouted, his voice echoing within the chamber. He held his side, where the trace of the wound still remained. His jaw clenched. It had worked. It had worked so well. He wanted nothing more than to try to pry open the connection again, to find her there and them.

He isn't ready, but we are running out of time…

Rey watched as the binary suns disappeared one after the other. The darkness widened and the cold set in. In a few hours she'd be struggling to stay warm, as desert climates had taught her. The ship had been carefully concealed near an over-ridge, sheltered in part by a small trio of boulders. She hoped she had gone far enough to disappear. Rey had stopped finally, landing on a familiar surface of a foreign world. The desert winds were much the same as her old home in Jakku, but the landscape had its own unique qualities. The rocky surfaces were crawling with life-forms of all manner, their presence dimly palpable to her as she stood guard by her ship. She knew the denizens of this planet would likely be as carefully guarded and unscrupulous as the place she'd once called home.

She needed to open her mind up to them, so they'd not find Luke. Especially with him being stranded, though she was certain once he'd come back to find her gone, he'd know what had happened. She'd kept her barriers slammed shut since the incident, no margin of sensation, making her less able to sense the smaller intricacies of her surroundings. It didn't matter at that moment, but if she found herself in a battle, she'd do poorly. Alone again, she had to figure out what to do next.

Rey locked herself back up in the ship, hoping that the disturbance of someone trying to break into it would jar her aware if it came to it. She let the world outside fall away, piece by piece, until she reached a state of emptiness… and lowered the gates.

His eyes flew open. He could feel his heart in this throat.

Here? Now?

She was there, almost as palpable as if she was in this very room. Her mind touched his like a caress, the gentleness making him shy away, afraid of an inevitable pain he could only expect. There would always be pain, and he cringed as he felt that soft impression melt over him. The serenity seemed to focus him.

It was just the two of them now.

Standing across the gorge. Both wounded, both alone. No one to save them. No one to find another way. But she did not come for him. She kept her weapon at her side, eyes blazing, as she stared back. Anger and fear, yes, but something else too. Because it wasn't just the same as that lonely cold night that had changed everything.

He could tell she was surprised now. Why wasn't he coming after her? Didn't they need to chase her? Did they already find Luke?

Ah. Luke. The last Jedi... where is Luke?

She says nothing out loud, but the answer is there: I couldn't say. I left. I had to leave. ...then, triumphantly. You can only look for me.

A shift. He is no longer surprised or fearful. He looks at her, and suddenly is is there in front of her. He holds her shoulders, firmly, with a gentleness she had not been expecting. And before she can try to lead him in any way, she feels the force of another, burning against them.

No...no…

The shadows grow longer, Kylo Ren's the longest of them all, as the pain engulfs him, and he looms over her. And she finally sees what he has been envisioning, the poisoned images of his aggression, but more poignantly, the caresses, the closed gap between them that would unite them… that is what he wants of her. She cannot help but recoil, and Ren is heady, confused at the projecting images that seem to both stem from his own mind and the mind of his master. Rey tries to break the connection, remembering the last thing she had seen, the extracted binary twilight shatters as the last image to come across.

Snoke's pull jolts him away, Rey retreating to her own. He runs to the Leader's quarters, distraught. "She isn't with Luke, Supreme Leader. She is on the run! The place she is… another desert hovel. Two suns disappear over a ridge." The crooked smile seems to indicated Snoke's knowing. His eyes are cruel, but Kylo Ren can only see the pleasure that ekes through, the thrill at knowing the next step. He feels a wash of betrayal, and before he is bade to speak again, he stands. "I will go find her."

"Of course you will." Snoke laughs. "You are not ready, but she is not either. Do you not recognize that desert hovel? DO you not know who has sprung from that forsaken, empty planet of the rim?"

The air seemed to thin. The image projected to him, and the words came, an exchanged knowing. Ren feels his heart stop, as he finds the answer, the boy with a shadow too tall for his small form. This is meant to be. He will find her there, and he will defeat her.

The images replay within her mind, his soft, boyish face morphing into the hideous mask, the face of all of the scavengers who had come after her once the payments had stopped keeping Unkar Platt's protection from that unknown source. She had faced off against this aggression before. She had always managed to overcome, find a way to avoid it. But this monster was more than that. Rey had not expected to find this buried in his mind. She saw his desire to cover her body with his, to feel her skin against his, his hands traversing her breasts and legs. It sent shivers up her spine, the realization, that he'd been fixated on her for so long, was chilling. She huddled to herself on the floor of the modest ship. She wanted desperately to run away and disappear again.

Her mind raced over the possibilities. SHe was certain that they were already on their way to come find her. Perhaps even just destroy the entire planet, should they have such technology again. But the bond between them, even though she loathed him more than she pitied him, she could not deny. She had seen into him, more than once now, and she could see that he wanted to best her. More than that, he wanted her. He would not kill her.

That realization, in and of itself, gave her small comfort. If he could not kill her, she could defeat him.