"Stop! He's my…my prisoner!" Rey commanded, throwing her arm out in a feeble attempt to protect Kylo Ren. She glanced at him briefly to find he was just as shocked at her outburst as she was. Her eyes traced back to the small group of soldiers. They did not lower their weapons at first, so she had the idea to bind his hands using the Force.

Just trust me… She thought to herself as she moved his hands closer together. He didn't resist at all, and that surprised her ever so slightly. She recalled he could read minds and nagged herself for not defending against it.

The resistance across the way slowly holstered their guns and circled around Kylo Ren. Half of them praised Rey for capturing such a high value target while the other half prodded at him, jeering and cursing. They snapped handcuffs over his hands and shoved him to his knees, clouds of dust puffing around him. Rey could sense the anger building inside of him.

"Back away from him." She pulled him back to his feet—albeit with a bit of a struggle—and continued. "You all disobeyed a direct order. Why?" She feigned being upset as she looked on each of them, her eyes dancing between theirs. She could feel Kylo's irritated energy begin to simmer down.

"Well, to be honest, Captain, we couldn't find the river you talked about," the shortest soldier piped, brushing his mousy brown hair out of his face. Rey placed her palm on her forehead and sighed.

"The river is twelve klicks north. Perhaps I should have mentioned that before I sent you off. Next time, however, keep moving—don't let your doubt get ahead of you." From the nods she received, it appeared that she had given a satisfactory speech. The troop turned and jogged away once more, leaving the pair of Force-sensitives alone.

"That was convincing. Prisoner?" Kylo Ren inquired, his playful tone almost lost on Rey due to the voice changer. He managed to pry open his cuffs with the Force, but she quickly snapped his hands together as they had been before.

"I can't very well let you go now, can I? By now the entire Resistance knows that I have 'captured' you. What do you suggest?" Rey replied frankly, eying his dark helmet. She was beginning to despise the thing for concealing his feelings. Suddenly, she felt the Force wrapping around his hands begin to billow away as he stepped closer to her. A knot started to form in her throat.

"I suggest you cease underestimating me. To think a simple trick like that would keep me binded." His chuckles sounded inhuman through the voice changer in his mask. "I have a proposition for you."

Rey tilted her head at his sudden change in tone. "And that would be?"

"There are parts of the Force that I wish to understand." He paused, appearing to be recollecting his thoughts. "These parts are… frowned upon by Snoke. By the Order." Rey's face began to glow as she understood what he was asking of her. "However I do not wish to return to my family. Not yet. I want you to—"

He was cut off by another deafening explosion overhead. Shrapnel rained down around them and shards of glass nicked at Rey's exposed arms. The pair dipped underneath a rock overhang about a hundred feet from where they had been before, watching as the remainder of the ship-unfortunately for Rey, an X-Wing—smashed down into the vice grip of the trees above them. The canopy lit on fire as even more debris sprinkled from the cockpit, the pilot dangling by his shirt. Rey felt no sign of life, and a terrible aching got stuck in her chest. She had seen many casualties over the years, but they always got to her.

She knew she was very vulnerable, albeit briefly, as she looked upon the scene above her. She could feel Kylo Ren enter her mind, but he was much less invasive than before. It felt as though he was attempting to console her. She still pushed back, yet found he wasn't leaving. Rey turned to look at him to find that he had removed his mask again and was simply staring at her.

"I didn't want you to find out like this," he started, moving his gaze to the carnage in the trees. "I didn't want it to happen."

"What are you talking about?" Rey griped. Her hands were balled into fists and tightly pressed into her lap.

"Force-sensitives… We can sometimes form links. It is a very rare occurrence, so I can see why Skywalker did not instruct you of their existence. However, on the off chance that it does happen…" He trailed away, idly twiddling his gloved thumbs. She could feel how nervous he was. Not by his facial expression, not by his actions—she actually felt nervous too.

"Are you telling me we've—that we've bonded?!" Rey demanded curtly. She crawled from under the overhang and stood with her arms folded over her chest. "What exactly does that even entail?" She tried her best to keep her agitation on a low boil. After all, this couldn't be all bad.

You're right, it couldn't be. She was visibly struck by his thoughts playing in her head and she recoiled, stepping back and crunching into a chunk of the ship above.

"All of my thoughts, feelings, my pain and pleasure…It is yours now," He spoke slowly, seeming to savor every word as he spoke, rolling them around on his tongue.

And vice versa, she pondered, receiving a single nod from the adjacent Sith. "What caused the bond?"

"We have had previous exposure to each other's raw emotions. Our saber fight that gave me this scar, for example." He ran his finger quickly down the swipe over his eye.

"Or your interrogation, perhaps?" She deadpanned. "You know. The one where you so graciously invaded my mind." She could feel through their newborn bond that he was discomforted by her response, but she did not see such emotion on his face. After a brief moment, he spoke again.

"I suppose this display here,"—he pointed to the X-Wing in the trees hanging precariously above them—"was the final nail in the coffin, so to speak. The brief moment of vulnerability opened the floodgates." He was sitting back now, leaning against the rocks behind him, his helmet in the gravel a little out of arm's reach from him.

"So you have full access to my head, then. Just like the interrogation." She intentionally funneled her mixed emotions through to him, and this twisted his face from its stoic façade.

"Not exactly," he mumbled, pressing her discomfort away from him. "I can only see what you choose to share with me now."

So no more mind invasions. Relief mixed with some strange sense of gratitude trickled through the bond along with that message.

Correct. Kylo Ren accepted her mixed feelings this time, but did not comment on them. I don't have that ability any longer.

He stood quickly, collecting his helmet and pulling it back over his head. With swift movements he dusted the dirt away from his tunic.

"Where are you going?" she bounced after him, looking at him expectantly.

"I cannot stay here any longer. If Snoke finds that I am…fraternizing with the enemy, he'll have my head." He turned and began to walk back towards the direction he came from. Rey again did not follow him. Kylo could feel her longing to follow him, to stop him from leaving D'Qar. She felt the bond was beginning to be problematic. Until we meet again, this will have to do. He sounded almost disappointed as he flitted through her mind.

Until we meet again.

A/N: Please do me a favor and leave a review/follow/favorite! It inspires me to write new chapters quicker.