Chapter Summary:
Where Rey experiences the Trial/Fail cycle before her mind wanders to places forbidden by her sacred role, Kylo maybe, possibly, perhaps means well but he's sure got a poor way of showing it, and Jungle Kitty gets a new nickname.
Rey had instantly given up on trying to get any salvage off the crashed ship.
Instead, she had immediately bolted. Took off running to try and get as much distance between herself and the beasties as she could. She didn't bother trying to hide her tracks, instead hacking and slashing and levitating needed to cover ground in the opposite direction.
For the better part of an hour they chased her until one of them had mysteriously turned back though the other still pursued her relentlessly. Rey was nearing the point of exhaustion by the time that she found the cave. It little more than a crevice in a rocky cliff and she immediately crawled inside it.
Then she'd collapsed onto her hands and knees, muscles shaking with overuse, and listened as the beast prowled around outside. She didn't see it, but she could hear its unhappy whining at being denied the meal it had fought so hard for. Logs snapped and rocks shook as it tried to claw at the rocky wall that separated them, seeking out any way inside. As exhausted and dehydrated as Rey was, she couldn't have offered much of a challenge if it came down to close quarters combat.
Every flicker of a shadow outside would draw her attention. The creature was too large to enter through the same opening Rey had slipped into, but it was out there, watching and waiting. She couldn't let her guard down for even a second.
Not a second? No, far more than that. Seconds passed into minutes. Time seemed to crawl to a stop as that evil little ball of fur and chaotic energy did its rounds. Rey's muscles began to cramp from the defensive stance she was locked in, but she couldn't risk letting her guard down.
A sudden howl, loud and shocking in its intensity, comes from outside. It echoes along the stone walls of the cave, sending a primal chill of terror straight through Rey's soul.
Then the beast leaves, stomping through the underbrush away from her until nothing but a foul stench is left behind.
Stench? Oh… how wonderful. Jungle Kitty literally pissed all over the outside of the cave in retaliation for being denied its feast.
The smell is acrid and horrible, choking and burning is Rey's lungs until she has no choice but to scramble to untie the bundle of the computer terminal and wrap it's sling around her nose and mouth like a mask.
At least her access to the Force is returning to her, incrementally seeping back in as a final confirmation that the beast has given up.
Given up for now, no doubt, but Rey will take what she can get.
Breathing a sigh of relief, and then meditatively regretting it when her impromptu gas mask proves only halfway effective, Rey finally stands up and stretches the kinks out of her back. She checks the inside of the cave but there's little of interest in here. If it hadn't been for the reeking smell, she might have used it as a shelter for the night. As it is now, however, Rey waits the very longest that she can stand before she hesitantly crawls back out, listening carefully with both her ears and steadily returning connection to the Force.
No jungle piss kitties. They'll be back, that she doesn't doubt.
Until then, though, she needs to find a safer and less aromatic place to spend the rest of the afternoon tinkering with the navigation panel.
The next hour is spent in increasing frustration and ebbing daylight as Rey tries and fails to build her emergency signal. The idea of drop kicking her now lightly smoking computer terminal and maybe throwing in a few slices of her blade through it for good measure is not small in its current appeal.
All the careful rerouting of wires and recalibration of inputs will mean less than nothing if she can't get the kyber crystal in her lightsaber to stop shorting it out every time Rey tries to turn it on. She has tried everything that she can think of, including using the durasteel handle of her blade itself as a sort of buffer between the raw and uncountable energy of the crystal and the delicate electronic components it seems determined to eradicate.
As Rey works, it becomes impossible for her to think of anything but her feelings for Kylo. Fixing up things that are broken comes naturally to her. It's what she done all her life and there is apart of her that desperately wants to fix him as well.
Regretfully she has to admit that having Kylo around would be useful right now. Not for his company, certainly not. Even in those rare moments that he isn't deliberately antagonizing her Rey would be hard pressed to say for sure if she actually likes him. But now… now she kind of does need him.
And then there's Kylo. Thoughts of him flow unbidden. She wants to hate him. She should hate. But if she did, she wouldn't have been able to heal him. She wouldn't have let him…
Rey's fingers tremble slightly as she fights back the wave of memories. She sets the multitool down and closes her eyes, willing her mind to block out the tactile recollections. Instead of their intimacy, she concentrates on how viciously they'd fought each other. How angry she had been and how determined to hurt him for putting them both in this situation.
It had been the least Jedi like moment of her recent life. And then what had happened next had been even worse.
Rey opens her eyes and shakes her head, hurrying to get back to work. The daylight is fading in increments, and it brings with it a sense of urgency.
What is Kylo doing now? Is he trying to adapt his own device? Is he thinking about her?
No. She's not going down this road. He doesn't matter. He took something from her that is lost forever. She should be furious. And she is. Except…
Except that it hadn't been all bad. Not even half bad. If Rey were to strategically edit the beginning and ending to their lovemaking, mentally blurring out all the rough and ugly edges, it was… It was what? Pleasurable? Yes, for the most part. He had certainly tried to ensure that it had been for her, or at least as much as possible given the circumstances.
She hadn't been opposed to the act itself, but dear gods if she's known that they would live afterwards… Kylo hadn't known that. He'd genuinely thought that they were going to die. In a very real way, he had nearly killed her. That truth alone should be enough to sever any feelings of l- of sentimentality.
And yet it didn't. Her emotions for her other half burn in a murky haze, never letting her give up or forget. Kylo is her other half. For a moment in time they were a union. Now part of her will never stop wanting him. Not now that she knows what it's like for them to be together. How perfectly they had fit in both mind and body.
Especially in body. Rey can feel her face heat up in the cooling air. That can never happen again, no matter how much she might be tempted.
And Kylo smirks, the smug image of him flickering through their bond after such a long period of silence.
Rey's eyes pop open immediately. She hadn't realized she'd closed them, so deeply lost in her memories. One of her hands had been crawling its way up her inner thigh and she gawks at it in horror before slamming it into the ground next to her. The other hand had been lightly stroking her own neck. The sweet touch of a gentle lover.
You sick monster!
She shrieks it at their bond, face burning with a fury now. Kylo doesn't even flinch. She can see him now, but he's surrounded by static. All the energy of the planet interfering with her having a clear view. She must have been giving him quite the show, though. His side of their connection is uncharacteristically light and almost jubilant.
Take that gloating smile off your face you… you… you Bantha poodoo!
He doesn't. If anything his smile grows and she can see him extending his hand, using the Force and fine tuning it into a precise needle.
Oh? So he thinks he can use his powers against her through their own damn connection? Not a kriffing chance!
Rey slams her side of their bond shut, gritting her teeth as she leaps to her feet. She throws the multitool against the useless comm panel and wraps it up tight in its bundle.
Then its off into the jungle she goes, keeping her mind locked up as tightly from Kylo as she knows how to make it.
Rey doesn't need him. Rey doesn't need anyone. All that she does need, in fact, is a few capacitors to restrain the power of her lightsaber. That old ship she'd come across earlier should have exactly that. Then she's going to find some place to hide and get to work. Kylo is going to be on his own.
She gets back to the crashed old Rebellion ship just as the last edges of the sun are cresting on the horizon.
Rey had been entertaining some notion of sleeping in the remains of the cabin for the night. It would be a somewhat morbid option, but it had been so long abandoned and she was so low on other options that it seemed an acceptable compromise.
Of course, that was before she arrived to the scene and found the ship looted.
Looted.
Looted as in deliberately hacked, slashed, and raided. The capacitors, the transistors, even the bulk of the wiring from the engine compartment are all gone. Everything she had needed is no longer there. And the edges of the rusted metal are seared open in jagged lines that are undeniably familiar to Rey in their origin.
"Kylo Ren! I know you can hear me!" She screams the words into the dim, cooling air, drawing out her own blade an activating it. "Show yourself so I can strike you down and take back what you stole from me!"
Her voice echoes through the trees and bounces back across the ruined walls of the hull. For a few seconds the jungle is silent, fallen quiet in shock to her vocal outburst.
Then he calls to her, his voice smug and thick in her mind.
You can't lose what you never had, Rey, you know that as well as I do. Or do Scavengers no longer believe in 'finders keepers'?
Kriff he's an ass. She's always known that but she doesn't tell him nearly often enough.
"Kriff you're an ass!" Rey activates her lightsaber, swinging it in a slow accusatory arch as she points it at every shadow around her.
Language, Rey. You're a Jedi now. The last of your kind. You can't get angry at me for this.
"I'm angry at you for everything you- you-"
Ass?
"Yes, you ass! Every last part of this is your fault!"
The jungle falls silent for a moment. Rey listens for any sign of him. A snap of a twig. The swish of his cloak.
Fair enough.
And just like that, he pops out of her head, leaving his side of their bond a silent wall. Rey feels her blood boil hotter, her grip on her lightsaber tightening until the handle begins to creak. She pulls the Force inside herself, scanning around for her bondmate's disagreeably dark presence. She senses the green energy that saturates the planet, the swell of life, and yes, there he is. Somewhere very nearby. He's amused. So fucking amused at her anger.
So that's what that was about earlier, eh? When he was smirking like a tooka cat and she'd thought it was about her… inappropriate thoughts. No, that had to have been when he was stealing what she needed from her own damn haul and-
"Boo."
Kylo manifests so close behind her that she can feel his breath tickle the sweaty skin of her neck. Rey doesn't hesitate, doesn't wait. She gives her sharpest, angriest scream and spins around, hunkering low and stabbing her blade backwards to where his abdomen would be.
Of course he dodges out of the way. Just like she avoided the swipes of the jungle cats, Kylo sweeps aside, stepping out of the range of her vivisection.
"Careful, sweetheart, you wouldn't want to nick the power cell would you?"
Rey rears back, baring her teeth as a growl begins to form in her throat. Until she realizes how little he's wearing. Just his pants and a black tank top, which for Kylo's standards is practically naked. A large object is wrapped up in his cloak and tied to his back from across his chest.
Even in the failing light Rey can see his face transform from smug to down right entitled.
"Something distracting you, darling?"
"Call me that again. I dare you."
"Darling? Sweetheart? Beloved?" Rey's eyes narrow as he cocks his head to the side, seemingly thinking about something else. "I supposed I could go for 'lover', if you prefer, but-"
Rey howls and lunges forward, hurtling herself at him with her lightsaber leading her arc. He deflects her with his own, managing to not only push her away but avoid scratching her with those ridiculous crossguards of his corrupted blade.
Then Kylo sighs and sweeps his hair back, stepping away far enough to be beyond her convenient range of attack.
"Rey, come on, I was only having fun."
"I hate you! I hate you with every fiber of my soul!"
"Yes, I believe we established that before we breached atmosphere. But thank you for reminding me again after so long."
"Kriff you're an-"
"That too." He silences her repetitive insult with a wave of his hand that momentarily clicks her jaw shut until she regains control of herself.
Kylo holds up his free hand with his palm outreached in an obviously placating gesture.
"Rey, please. I only want to talk to you. We're stronger together. I'd thought… you disappeared from me for most of the day. You were just gone. I don't know what happened, but I'd thought the worst."
There is a ring of genuine truth and sincerity to his voice that makes Rey pause in the retort building on her tongue. Earlier, he had sounded genuinely panicked. Even now relief is washing across their bond into her in almost tangible waves. She can relate to that, at least on a certain twisted level. When he'd been dying in her arms, it had been almost too much to bear.
"Yeah Kylo, well… I was being chased through the jungle by a piss cat and it's bigger cousin. I kinda had a lot of my hands and didn't have time to coddle your ego."
She crosses her arms tightly around herself, squaring her jaw and glaring at the darkening wall of jungle around them. Her tainted palm practically itches at the memory of the tag and seek playtime that had dominated her afternoon.
"A piss ca- No, nevermind that Rey. I don't- You can tell me later. We need to find a place to sleep tonight first."
Rey's upper lip curls up into a snarl and she shakes her head, taking a step back from.
"There is no we Kylo. You go your way and I go mine. It'll double the odds of one of us making it off this glowing cesspit, in the very least."
Rey can hear him sigh and he steps forward. She takes another step back, but he has her cornered on the edge of the remnants of the shuttle and there's no way to dodge him without an embarrassing loss of position.
Then she feels him nudge at her mind, trying to suss out her current emotional state. She growls, shoving him out and glaring into his dark eyes.
"Stay out of my head. And my life."
"No."
"Yes."
"Let us negotiate, Rey. We both have two things the other wants, and all of them are useless without the other sharing."
Rey eyes the heavy cloth draped parcel on his back. If she was quick enough, she might be able to slice it off of him and then run away with it.
Kylo clears his throat, raising a skeptical eyebrow at her.
"You know that I can hear that, right?"
"Oh kriff off. I hope you get eaten by a kriffing piss cat, Kylo. I mean that. I really, really do. Now stay out of my head."
It's obnoxious how easily he can slip inside her when they're this close. This is exactly why keeping a distance between them is paramount. Perhaps even more so then getting the power cell away from him.
"Rey… be reasonable. We are wasting too much time arguing."
"Two things? What are the two things? If we're going to 'negotiate', then it has to be fair or nothing else." Rey puts a deliberately sarcastic emphasis to her air quotes around the word to make all the more clear her contempt for his idea.
"My power cell and the capacitors and other bits I've taken in exchange for your computer panel and 'incredible' talents."
Oh that riles her up, the way that he mocks her with the exact same ridiculing tone of voice as she had to him. Rey can feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up just like they did with the jungle beast when it was about to pounce.
"No. No deal. I want an advantage. Think of it as an apology gift for me having to put up with you for even a moment longer."
To her surprise, Kylo nods and steps back. He swings the parcel off his back and begins to unwrap it, clicking his tongue twice in warning when Rey starts to tense with the urge to grab and dash.
"In addition to the afore mentioned, my darling, I have the perfect amplifier. Should you actually manage to get a signal made, this curiosity will help to extend its range exponentially."
A bad feeling begins to form in Rey's gut. She has a hunch she's about to really not like what-
"Oh dear gods, what is that?!"
Kylo blinks up at her, a slight frown of surprise to her sudden outcry.
"It's… it's a bone. I found a whole field of them. They were radiating a very odd form of the Force that I believe we can-"
"Oh dear gods no! We've got to get rid of it immediately!" Rey leaps forward, intent on hurling the cursed relic into the far unknown before she catches herself. She can't touch it. Last time she touched it-
Kylo immediately snatches his bundle away, bone of malice and all.
"Rey, I told you that-"
"Did you touch it? Did you? Please tell me that you used your gloves!"
This is bad! This is so bad! The air is feeling heavy, her connection to the Force beginning to waver, or is that all in her mind?
Kylo's face starts to adopt a look of growing incredulity. She can hear faint glimmers of words like 'crazy, hysterical woman' ebbing from his mind and she snaps, lunging again for the tainted parcel.
He dodges, swinging it back behind him. Rey catches a glimpse of the scorched severed edge of the bone and she gasps, her hand flying over her mouth before she can stop it.
"You used your lightsaber on it?! What the hell were you thinking?!"
Kylo tips his head and looks down at the bone. Back up at her. Repeats the set of movements.
"Rey, perhaps you should-"
"They're going to come after you, you- you- you karking, frazzled, lunatic, nutjob! We need to get the hells out of here right now!"
With perfect timing, Rey's hand begins to tingle and throb. This time she's sure it's not a mirage of the mind. The Force is leaving her in a flood, leaving behind a disorientating sense of weightlessness.
Whatever Kylo was about to say fades as he feels it to. He stares dumbly at her for a moment before gesturing at her right side.
"Your hand, Rey… it's glowing."
Of course it is. Her palm is starting to burn, that eerie green light once more covering her skin.
But that literally pales in comparison to the growing brilliant fluorescence of the bone sticking out of Kylo's sling. She gapes at it, pointing mutely. Even from here she can feel the power, that sickly sweet energy. It both calls to her and repels her, seeming to grow stronger with each passing second.
Dear gods, this kriffing idiot bondmate of hers may have honestly brought he whole piss cat army down upon them!
To her horror, Kylo simply pulls the bone out and examines it, turning it over in his hands. In his bare hands. All it had taken to contaminate her palm had been one single light press onto the surface, and now here he is, defiling it further by rapping his knuckles against the surface.
"How are you not effected by it?!"
Adrenaline races through her veins as her legs get ready to run off again, with or without him.
"It's doing something," he answers, ignoring her and speaking far too calmly. "I can feel it, but I have no idea what- hey! Let go of that!"
Rey snatches it away from him, darting forward and dashing it out of his hands before he can stop her. She throws it as hard and as far as she can, using the last of her failing connection to the Force to send it well beyond their line of sight.
Something crashes in the near distance. Something big.
"Rey."
There's an edge to Kylo's voice as he draws his saber and ignites it. In any other time she would be thoroughly annoyed with how he tries to shove her behind him. Gallantly chauvinistic even when he's rolling in the depths of fault.
The noise comes again, closer and louder. Then again. There's two of them. No, there's three. Perhaps even more.
Rey doesn't wait to find out. She grabs Kylo's other wrist and yanks, spinning him back to face her.
"Kylo," she has to shout over the rising roar suddenly surrounding them, "we need to run."
She spares no emphasis on the final word and this time Kylo doesn't resist. They both turn in unison, fleeing hand in hand into the jungle just as the army of beasts crash down upon where they had been standing only moments before.
Author's Note:
Only about 500 words over my chapter limit! For me this is real progress.
Next chapter:
Our dynamic duo have to work together to survive, thrive, and escape. What could possibly go wrong?
Also: Sexual tension: 6.69. And rising.